Sparkling
by Karategal
Summary: PreMovie Verse : 2007 Just how did Optimus Prime and the other Autobots cope with raising Bumblebee, the last of the younglings, when he was a tiny sparkling? Protocol only goes so far when a sparkling is involved...
1. Chapter I : Optimus Prime

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

This is simply going to be a story of fluffy thoughts that pop into my head, so it probably won't be as structured as my other stories. And I would like to give an extra-big thanks to MoonstarWorld and Litahatchee for giving me a number of great suggestions for this story. I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Nightfire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.

Now remember, Bumblebee may seem OOC here because he is _very _young, practically a baby-bot. This is how some of my very little cousins and much younger brother would probably act in a situation like this, so be open-minded and nice, please. Bumblebee would want that.

Sparkling - Newborn

Youngling - Child

Italics - Thoughts

Breem - 8.3 Earth minutes

Joor - About 6.5 Earth hours

Orn - About 13 Earth days

Vorn - About 83 Earth years

Sparkling - Chapter I - Optimus Prime

* * *

The sleek silver hallways of the titanic Autobot battleship, _Artemis I_, shone faintly beneath the glowing lights of the ceilings and the faint humming of various machines and equipment could be heard through the doorways. A peaceful silence hung in the warm air, the towering walls of Optimus Prime's office glinting in the pale light that was given off by his large computer terminal. However, the mesmerizing Commander of the Autobots had more important things to attend to than data chips at the moment…

"No fit," squeaked a tiny voice. "Need 'nother piece."

Optimus gazed down at the bright yellow minibot who sat amongst his feet, dark blue optics watching as the small sparkling toddled across the room to find another piece of the puzzle. The large Autobot had given up trying to keep his office floor organized since no sooner did he clear the pristine surface before it was covered in toys and game-chips yet again.

It was a never-ending battle that Optimus Prime could never hope to win.

The powerful Autobot leader kept his sharp optics fixed on the tiny form that was running across his office, his large hand immediately catching the little bot before he could take a tumble over one of his own toy models. Bumblebee clicked and twittered at his big caretaker, not pleased that the older mech had disturbed his dash to finish the puzzle that Perceptor had made specially for him.

"No!" hissed the sparkling, hitting the older mech's arm with his little fists and kicking at his kneecaps. "Down! Now! Down!"

Optimus simply placed the tiny mech in front of the elusive puzzle, content to let the sparkling entertain himself. Bumblebee was a rather demanding sparkling, and made his displeasure well known if he was not given the proper amount of attention that he felt he deserved. Thankfully, the little yellow sparkling was thoroughly absorbed with the new toys and games that Wheeljack and Perceptor had designed for him.

Then again, puzzles could only occupy a sparkling for so long.

"Perhaps it would be wise to take a break and get a bit of energon, little one," proposed Optimus, his hands easily scooping up the tiny bot as he attempted to climb into one of the large cabinets that lined the room.

"No!!"

Optimus easily held the wriggling bot in his left hand, the tiny bundle of yellow wires contrasting with the dark blue of his thick arms. Not quite sure how to deal with such a fit, Optimus looked around the room in hopes of finding a means to appease the pouting sparkling. And then he saw it on the far side of the office…

"But what about Rufus?" asked Optimus, picking up the small stuffed animal that appeared to be a cross between a large bear and himself. Well, he had to give Wheeljack credit, he did have quite the imagination when it came to anything involving lil' sparklings.

Bumblebee immediately perked up at the sight of his beloved stuffed toy.

"I'm sure he's hungry too."

"Rufus!"

The Autobot Commander handed the stuffed animal to the tiny sparkling, using the temporary distraction to his advantage as he slipped out of the room. Bumblebee twittered at the toy, his vocal processor releasing a jumble of sounds that the larger mech could not hope to understand without consulting Bluestreak or Wheeljack. Both mechs were fluent in the gibberish language that Bumblebee frequently used despite Ratchet's intense efforts to get the sparkling to 'speak like a big bot'.

_Well, that was easy,_ thought Optimus, _Now I just have to get him to drink some energon._

Just as Optimus thought this, the door directly to his right hissed open and a pair of familiar mechs exited the biochem laboratories. Both stared at their commander with amused optics, their focus on the tiny bot that was happily clicking and twittering away in his arms.

"That's quite the armful you have there, my friend," said Ratchet, his gruff voice laced with sarcasm and amusement at the sight.

Bumblebee perked up at the sound of the medic's voice, immediately reaching out to the two mechs when they stepped into his optical view. Wheeljack eagerly snatched the little bot from Optimus's arms, his fins glowing brightly when the sparkling began to giggle as he playfully tickled Bumblebee's sensitive wiring. The tiny bot ran his small fingers over Wheeljack's masked faceplate in a vain attempt to protect himself from the older mech's soft blows of air.

"Stop!! Tickles!!" giggled Bumblebee, his tiny frame struggling to escape the large inventor's fingers and air vents. "No!!"

"Did you two hear something?" asked Wheeljack, innocently glancing around the hall as his fingers continued to lightly skim over Bumblebee's sensitive side. "I could've sworn that I heard a little voice."

"Me, 'Jack!" squeaked Bumblebee, his internal cooling fans clicking on as his small frame started to heat up. "Me!!"

"Who?" continued the inventor playfully.

"Bee!"

"Bee? I don't know who this Bee is," stated Wheeljack, his mask protecting him from the little fingers that were ghosting over his faceplates. "Perhaps he's a new recruit that Magnus sent from Iacon."

"Me Bee!" squeaked the sparkling, his tiny frame sagging in the inventor's large hand and relaxing as the tickle torture came to an end. "Me!"

"Of course, you're our lil' Bee," said Wheeljack, leaning over to playfully rub his noseplate over the sparkling's small chassis. He could feel the rapid pulse of the minibot's tiny spark, momentarily amazed by the strength of the small creature's life force. "Only our Bee could be this impossibly cute and adorable."

The sparkling continued to click and squeak as they entered the rec room, his tiny frame curled into a tight little ball in Wheeljack's left hand whilst his right one gently massaged Bumblebee's sensitive receptors.

"Who's a cute lil' mech?" cooed Wheeljack whilst sitting down between Nightbeat and Blades on the main couch in front of the holovid. "Who's the cutest lil' mech in the whole, wide universe?"

"Bee!"

"And who's the smartest lil' mech in the entire galaxy?"

"Bee!"

"That's right!" cooed Wheeljack, gently tossing Bumblebee into the air.

"Primus," groaned Blades, more than a little annoyed by the inventor's child-like coos and gibberish clicks, "'Jack obviously fried more than a few circuits when tha' experiment blew up in his face."

Click. Buzz. Twitter. Click. Chirp. Click. Click. Chirrup. Buzz. Click.

"'Jack!!" snarled Ratchet's irritated voice, "What have I told about talking to him like that? Bumblebee needs to start phasing out of the clicking stage."

"But he's still so little," whined Wheeljack whilst holding Bumblebee up for every mech in the room to see, "Don't you think it's too early, Ratch?"

"Bumblebee may be the tiniest sparkling I have ever seen, but he is also one of the cleverest," stated Ratchet. "He knows exactly how to get around every mech on this glitchin' battleship. And that includes you, 'Jack."

The inventor gazed down at the tiny creature that sat in his lap, bright baby blue optics staring up at him with an innocence that he could never hope to deny in this lifetime. Bumblebee released another quiet click, his tiny fingers reaching up to the older mech in an adorably beseeching manner. Wheeljack immediately responded, hefting the tiny bot into his arms without a second thought.

It was official: Bumblebee had the infamous Autobot inventor wrapped around his little finger.

"But he's too cute to deny," cried Wheeljack, softly responding to the clicks and chirps that Bumblebee was making in his arms. "Just look at this lil' face."

"And you're certainly not helping matters by speaking to him like that!"

"Calm down, Ratchet," said Optimus Prime's regal baritone as he finished readying the sparkling's bottle of warmed low-grade energon, "Bumblebee is not even six vorns old yet." In other words, the tiny sparkling was not even the Cybertronian equivalent of a three-month-old Earth infant. "He has plenty of time to learn how to speak like a big bot."

Bumblebee squealed eagerly when he saw Optimus approach with the bright blue bottle of coronite-flavored low-grade, his tiny frame crawling off of Wheeljack and onto Nightbeat in his haste to get to the tasty substance. The detective chuckled at the bubbly sparkling, easily picking him up by his scruff-bar and then handing him to his approaching commander.

"Here you go, little one," cooed Optimus, cradling the sparkling in the crook of his left arm as he gently shook the bottle with his right hand, placing the tube at the top of the bottle into Bumblebee's eager mouth. The tiny minibot immediately latched onto the bottle, his small fingers curling around Optimus's thick digits as the sweet-flavored energon flowed into his fuel tanks.

"Ain't dis an endearin' sight," chuckled Jazz as he walked into the rec room with Mirage and Blaster at his side. "The great Prime himself feedin' a lil' sparklin'."

Optimus simply gave the saboteur a pointed glare, the familiar feel of Bumblebee's warm little spark and the quiet sound of his suckling relaxing the Autobot commander. He enjoyed spending time with Bumblebee. And in Optimus's opinion, feeding the tiny sparkling was one of the most fulfilling aspects of caring for him. Optimus loved feeling the small minibot cradled in his arms, his tiny fingers wrapped around his own thick ones whilst Bumblebee's little feet gently pattered against his battle-worn chassis.

Optimus loved everything that was Bumblebee.

"Slowly, little one," whispered Optimus, removing the tube from the sparkling's mouth and gently rubbing his throat in order to coax the fluid down into his tanks. The tiny bot squeaked quietly, licking around his mouth plates before releasing a small burp that Optimus found incredibly endearing and adorable. "Finish swallowing."

Bumblebee squeaked and reached for the half-empty bottle, his tiny fingers making grasping motions that alerted the older Autobot to his readiness for more of the sweet and brightly colored fluid. Optimus placed the small tube back into Bumblebee's eager mouth, watching as the sparkling's systems revved in contentment and his tiny mouth suckled on the soft tube.

"Did you add the minerals that I gave you earlier?" asked Ratchet.

"Of course," said Optimus whilst removing the bottle and repeating the previous process of rubbing the sparkling's throat. He accepted a second bottle from the medic and placed it in Bumblebee's waiting mouth, sitting down at one of the smaller couches on the far side of the rec room. Optimus tenderly massaged around the sparkling's mouth plates with his thumb, wiping up the small amount of energon that somehow managed to escape the tiny bot's keen mouth. "I think I'm going to need another bottle, Ratchet."

"Are you sure?" questioned the medic, surprised that Bumblebee was drinking this much energon. The sparkling was not known for drinking more than one or two bottles at a time. Most sparklings drank twice the amount that Bumblebee did, but the minibot was simply so tiny that most of the Autobots did not question his appetite. "He usually does not drink this much. But he doesn't appear to be full."

Wheeljack had even designed the sparkling bottles to be extra-small so that they would fit into Bumblebee's tiny mouth.

"Well, he definitely wants more," stated Optimus after the medic ran a scan on the minibot's tanks. Bumblebee continued to suckle greedily at the empty bottle, little fingers grasping at Optimus's thumb in a silent plea for more of the tasty fluid. The towering commander gladly took the third bottle from the medic's hand, gently shaking it while baby blue optics followed his every movement. "Here you go."

Bumblebee happily suckled on the soft tube, the burning warmth and closeness of Optimus' spark causing the sparkling to react with a healthy fervor that was rarely seen in such a tiny creature. The sparkling subconsciously nestled into the Autobot commander's thick chassis, eagerly seeking the familiar warmth of his brilliant spark.

"Primus, Bee's really puttin' it away," commented Jazz, his optics watching as the tiny bot continued to guzzle down the fluid. "He never drinks tha' much when I feed 'im."

"Well, I guess Optimus is special," said Ratchet.

_You have no idea,_ thought Optimus sarcastically.

The sparkling squeaked when the tube was removed from his mouth halfway through the bottle, his optics fixated on the delicious fluid as powerful fingers gently massaged his sensitive throat. He was beginning to feel full at last, but the sight of the remaining fluid was simply too tempting for him to pass up.

Bumblebee reached for the bottle yet again.

"Where's he puttin' it all?" asked Jazz.

Ratchet simply shrugged and replied, "I guess his appetite is increasing. He never filled his tanks to full capacity before, so this really isn't that surprising."

"I pity whoever 'as to flush his tanks tonight," said Jazz with a grimace.

Bumblebee finished off the last droplets of energon, his tiny mouth puckering as he attempted to lick up the remnants that had escaped him. Optimus ran his thick thumb over the sparkling's mouthplates and allowed him to lick the digit clean before a series of quiet burps escaped Bumblebee's vocal processor.

The Autobot commander hefted Bumblebee up against his shoulder and lightly rubbed his back panels right below his fuel tanks. Bumblebee clicked in discomfort, his tanks churning for a few moments before he burped up a small amount of excess fluid.

"There we go," cooed Optimus, "All better."

Bumblebee yawned and curled into a tight little ball in Optimus's arms, his full fuel tanks making him drowsy as the warm liquid flowed through his tiny frame. Optimus gladly cradled the little sparkling close to him, gently rubbing Bumblebee's sensitive receptors until he had fallen into a deep recharge.

* * *

_Several joors later…_

The Autobot Supreme Commander watched as the little sparkling played on his office floor, puzzle pieces and game chips strewn all around his small frame. Rufus lay not too far to the side, the stuffed animal covered in piles of puzzle pieces that Bumblebee had yet to sort out.

"Too big," chirped the minibot, discarding another puzzle piece and moving on to the next one without a moments thought. "Need blue one."

Optimus smiled down at the tiny mech, complete adoration and love shining in his dark blue optics. Bumblebee was such a beautiful sparkling. Everything about the tiny bot enamored the powerful Autobot commander: his little grasping digits, imploring baby blue optics, squeaky voice that still had a hard time pronouncing words, or the tiny plates atop his head that flitted into the air when he was excited or happy. He was simply so—

"Slag!!"

The Autobot Commander was barely able to duck before a particularly large blue puzzle piece zoomed right by his head. Optimus was stunned into silence by the obscene words that were spewing from Bumblebee's squeaky vocal processor.

"Bumblebee!!" snapped Optimus, his hand immediately attempting to grab the sparkling by his sensitive scruff-bar. "What have I told you about using such vulgar language?"

"Frag! Frag! Frag! Frag! Frag!!"

The sound of footsteps and hissing of the office door caused Optimus to squawk in embarrassment as he made a wild dive for the happily cursing sparkling. Bumblebee sat on his little skidplate in the middle of the room, his hand repeatedly smacking another puzzle piece against the board with reckless abandon. The tiny bot had no idea what such vulgar words meant to the older mechs around him.

"I leave for three orns and this is what I return to?" boomed the deep baritone of the Autobot's resident weapons specialist. "A sparkling that cusses more than a group of 'Cons on cheap high-grade."

_**"'Hide!!!"**_

The titanic weapons specialist was immediately tackled by his tiny charge, his huge arms enveloping the sparkling and hiding him from further view. Bumblebee clicked loudly when his guardian picked him up, his small frame practically buzzing with energy when he realized that Ironhide was finally home. When Ironhide was not on the ship it was cold and lonely, a feeling that Bumblebee did not enjoy in the least.

"Missed you lots," squeaked Bumblebee, his small arms wrapping around the black mech's thick neck. "Why gone so long?"

Ironhide chuckled, his large arms hefting Bumblebee high enough for him to kiss the sparkling atop his tiny head. "I had an important mission, little one." He cast Optimus a meaningful glance that clearly alluded to the success of the mission. Ironhide was without a doubt one of Optimus' most ruthless soldiers. And Ironhide was only this mellow after a group of 'Cons came into contact with the business end of his plasma cannons.

Obviously, a highly successful mission.

Bumblebee clicked in response, his small frame nestling into Ironhide's pitch black chassis whilst his bright blue optics gazed up at his guardian with a fearfulness that neither mech were comfortable witnessing from such a young sparkling.

"What if don't come back?"

Ironhide frowned, his burly arms instinctively tightening around the sparkling when he felt the small spark pulsing not too far from his own ancient core. He hated leaving this precious creature, but he was still a soldier and had to fight in order to protect everything that he held dear to him.

And Bumblebee was definitely his most treasured gift.

"I'll always come back, little one," rumbled Ironhide, his head dipping low in order to gaze into the sparkling's optics, "As long as you need me, I'll always return."

Bumblebee seemed to contemplate this multi-layered response, his systems revving as he attempted to burrow even deeper into his guardian's warmth. "Okay." The sparkling suddenly giggled and indicated that he wanted to be placed back on the ground. "Look what Bee made!"

The two older mechs sighed in relief, glad that the tiny bot had forgotten all about his hard-hitting questions within a few short astroseconds. There were just some questions that were better left unasked, Optimus concluded.

"I hope you behaved yourself," said Ironhide. Bumblebee eagerly pointed to a small fortress that he had made out of cubes, attempting to hide inside of it before his guardian snatched him up and started to blow air out of his vents and onto the bot's sensitive frame. "Or else I'll have to lock you in the brig!"

The feel of the deep rumbling voice against his chassis caused the tiny bot to giggle madly, his little hands reaching out to Optimus whilst pleading, "Save Bee! Opt! Save Bee!"

Optimus smiled and concluded that it would be wise to save the little sparkling from his tickle torturer. After all, what kind of big brother would he be if he were to deny such an earnest plea.

_I'll never know,_ thought Optimus. _I could _never_ abandon him._ **_Never._**

* * *

Well, I hope this was not too fluffy or overdone. This was just a random idea that popped into my head, so it's not really structured like my other stories. But I hope that you all enjoyed it. And as I said, this is mostly a fluff-based story, so if there's a particular bot that you would like to see with Bumblebee, just say so in your review. I hope this story lived up to your expectations and thank you for reading!!


	2. Chapter II : The Twins

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

This is simply going to be a story of fluffy thoughts that pop into my head, so it probably won't be as structured as my other stories. And I would like to give an extra-big thanks to everyone who took the time to review and I had the highest amount of requests for the twins, so this chapter will be about them. And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Nightfire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.

And I would like to give a huge thank you to Middernacht for drawing a beautiful and very realistic picture of baby Bumblebee for me. If anyone would like to see it, go to her page on Deviantart and check it out. It's amazing.

Sparkling - Chapter II - The Twins

* * *

The sleek silver hallways of the titanic Autobot battleship, _Artemis I_, shone faintly beneath the glowing lights of the ceilings and the faint humming of various machines and equipment could be heard through the doorways. A peaceful silence hung in the warm air, streams of sunlight filtering through the high bay windows that lined the hallways. Every few moments a hissing noise would pierce through the quiet as mechs moved about their shifts and attempted to finish the last of their afternoon work. One mech was particularly busy as he attended to his little charge…

"Where did that lil' sparkling wander off to?" pondered Raindance playfully, his dark blue optics scanning the small playroom that was connected to the main rec room. "Bumblebee? Where are you?"

The video correspondent was rewarded with a tiny giggle and the soft sound of pattering feet.

"Come out, little one," said Raindance, a smirk spreading across his faceplate. He rested his hands on his hips and pretended to look all around, purposely ignoring the small mech that was crawling into a nearby play-castle that Wheeljack has designed just for him. "I can't seem to find him anywhere."

A tiny form darted into another nearby fortress.

"Or maybe," drawled Raindance, kneeling down and getting ready to pounce on the tiny feet that he saw sticking out from beneath the small doorway, "I should just look here!"

Bumblebee squealed in surprise, his small arms flailing in the air as the older mech bent over and began to blow warm air onto his sensitive stomach panels. The lil' sparkling giggled madly, smacking the top of Raindance's head as the aerial daredevil continued to blow raspberries all over his sensitive side and receptor panels. And it wasn't until the tiny bot's internal cooling fans switched on before Raindance ended his tickle fest. He was very careful with how far he pushed the little yellow minibot because of his tiny size. Raindance would never forgive himself if anything were to happen to the sparkling.

Bumblebee was the entire ship's pride and joy.

Raindance hefted the panting sparkling into his arms and walked into the rec room, allowing the little mech to watch the older soldiers practice on the tumbling mats. The tiny minibot squeaked in wonder, watching with wide optics as the more psychotic and violent of the twins took to the mat.

"Sunny!"

The icy optics of the golden warrior twin gazed across the room, locking onto the owner of the squeaky voice that had yelled out his little-loved nickname. Sunstreaker was not known for being the friendliest of mechs. That was a well-known fact.

But there was something about the bubbly little sparkling that seemed to tug at his battle-hardened spark. Not that he'd ever admit to that, of course.

He did have a reputation to maintain after all.

Unlike most of the other Autobots, Sunstreaker had absolutely no qualms when it came to taking the life of another being. If another mech was in his way or threatened one of the few things that he held dear, then he would annihilate that being without a second thought. He had spent countless vorns fighting in the energon-soaked gladiatorial games that regularly took place in the dark depths of Kaon.

Sunstreaker loved the thrill of battle. The feel of fresh energon running down his panels and the sound of his enemy's dying cries excited him like nothing else ever would. He knew that he possessed far more Decepticon traits than he did Autobot. But the time that he had spent in the Forge had taught him to value the lives of innocents. And Sunstreaker did not believe in killing innocents.

"Closer, Rain! Closer!"

The golden warrior watched out of his peripheral vision as the aerial correspondent sat down a safe distance from the mats, but close enough so that the small sparkling would be appeased. Bumblebee practically buzzed with excitement, his tiny frame squirming with barely contained energy as he watched the older mechs.

"Keep this clean, you two," advised Streetwise, his optics glancing at the sparkling with a silent message for Sunstreaker and Blades to behave themselves, "The last thing we need is for Bumblebee to be eternally traumatized. Ironhide's been itchin' for a reason to bash all of your heads in these past few orns."

Sunstreaker smirked, remembering the weapons specialist's ire when he had found out that it was Sideswipe whom the sparkling had heard cursing like a drunken 'Con on cheap high-grade. His twin brother was so dumb sometimes it was ridiculous.

"Blades!" squeaked the sparkling, his little arms reaching out to the street brawler. "Here, here!"

The short-tempered mech simply shrugged and walked over to see what the little bot wanted, not quite sure what to make of Bumblebee's rapid clicks and raucous chirps. Blades and his fellow warrior mechs usually preferred to keep their distance when it came to the sparkling. And it wasn't that they didn't like the little bot; no, all of them had come to adore the small yellow bundle of wires within the past few vorns.

But Bumblebee was just so fraggin' tiny compared to them.

The little mech fit perfectly in the palm of their commander's hand, his small arms just a few inches longer than Optimus Prime's thick fingers. Blades was amazed that their towering commander didn't crush the sparkling when he held him. After all, Optimus was so much taller and more powerful when compared to the rest of them. He would not have been surprised if the diplomatic mech could take on an entire squadron of 'Cons on his own.

Then again, Optimus was too pacifistic for his own good at times.

But not when it came to Bumblebee.

The street fighter truly pitied the 'Con who was stupid enough to even so much as scratch the sparkling's bright yellow paintjob. Bumblebee was Optimus Prime's pride and joy and anyone foolish enough to harm the sparkling would without a doubt be sent on a one-way trip to the Matrix.

A very painful one at that.

"What's up, squirt?" asked Blades, kneeling down in front of the twittering bot.

"Luck!" clicked the sparkling, patting the street fighter on the cheeks whilst giving him a quick kiss on the noseplate. "Win!"

Blades was too stunned to conjure up a dignified response.

"Ya lil' traitor," growled Sunstreaker, glaring down at the tiny mech with stony optics as the sparkling blew him an obnoxious raspberry. "Ungrateful brat."

"Did ya jus' see wha' he did?" squawked Jazz, beaming with pride when his little buddy successfully copied one of his favorite taunts. "Did ya? Did ya!"

"A mech after my own spark," swooned Sideswipe.

Sunstreaker growled in annoyance, smacking his moronic twin brother upside the head non-too-gently as the sparkling continued to babble on happily in his caretaker's lap. "Shut the frag up, ya glitch-head!"

"Frag!" squealed Bumblebee, clapping his hands in delight when his caretakers' released gasps of shock and horror. "Frag, frag, frag!"

"Sunny!"

"Sunstreaker!"

"Sunshine!"

"What!" snarled the golden twin, "It's not like he's never heard it before."

"Hurry up and fight," snapped Trailbreaker, shoving Blades back onto the mats as the giggling sparkling continued to swear like a drunken sailor. "Do something, anything!"

The gigantic black mech received blank states.

"Glitch-heads!" he groaned, glancing towards the double doors that led to the firing range. "All ya need to do is distract him so that he's not cussin' when 'Hide comes out."

"Fight, fight!"

Bumblebee clicked with delight when the two large mechs collided, their friendly sparring match thoroughly entertaining the little sparkling. Ironhide rarely allowed the lil' bot to watch the older mechs train and spar, the thought of Bumblebee trying to emulate them before he even received his second frame was fear that constantly weighed on the weapons specialist's processor.

Hoist and Ratchet were especially cautious with the minibot, both of them stating that Bumblebee was without a doubt the tiniest sparkling they had ever seen or treated in their medical careers. This did little to reassure Ironhide, who had been a nervous wreck five vorns ago when he had finally broken down and allowed someone other than Optimus Prime or himself to watch Bumblebee.

The little mech was simply so fragile and delicate.

Potentially damaging one of the sparkling's small limbs was a very real concern to most on the mechs onboard _Artemis I_. And it was the warrior mechs who felt this fear the most amongst the Autobot ranks. None of them were accustomed to being gentle or even mildly soft in their ornly lives. The majority of them had never even held a sparkling before the destruction of the Youth Sectors.

The mere idea of holding something so tiny and breakable was terrifying to most of them. What if they hurt him?

However, Sideswipe was one of the few mechs who did not hold this fear and was more than willing to play with Bumblebee whenever he was given the chance. He regularly watched the yellow minibot, his tender and delicate demeanor when around the sparkling stunning most of his fellow Autobots.

"And the battle between the Titans begins!" cheered Sideswipe, snatching the tiny mech out of his caretaker's arms and tossing him high into the air. Raindance looked like he was going to blow a circuit. "But these mighty beasts did not realize that a stronger and mightier adversary would soon appear on the horizon!"

Bumblebee squealed in delight, his baby blue optics glowing brightly as the older mech placed him on the ground and helped him walk the far distance (Bumblebee's legs were not yet strong enough to cover more than twenty or thirty feet at a time) to where Sunstreaker and Blades were wrestling on the mats. Neither warrior noticed the approach of the red twin or the yellow sparkling, both too engrossed in their match to care about what was happening around them.

"Slowly the beast approaches…"

Blades twisted out of his opponent's hold and rolled to the side…

"Watching as his prey do battle with one another…"

Sunstreaker easily followed, grabbing the other mech around his upper legs…

"Neither hear the quiet sound of his breathing, the rustle of his footsteps…"

The warriors twisted ferociously on the ground, neither willing to give the other the upper hand…

"Both too intent on their own battle to notice the coming ambush…"

Blades elbowed his opponent in the side, flipping Sunstreaker over his shoulder as he grabbed his right arm and locked him in with a reinforced arm-bar…

"Until it was too late! And the beast attacked! Arghhhh!"

The red twin assisted the tiny sparkling and gave him a boost onto the mats, bright blue optics glowing with pride as he watched the little minibot fearlessly tackle his yellow brother's head. Sunstreaker yelped in surprise, the sudden sensation of little hands and feet pushing down onto his faceplates bewildering the usually stoic mech. The golden warrior could hear the quiet sound of clicks and chirps beside his auditory receptors as Bumblebee gave him a good few smacks on the cranium.

"Watch the paint!" snarled Sunstreaker, his fingers twitching to remove the small being from his newly polished faceplates. Unfortunately, Blades was currently preventing him from removing the ornery sparkling. "Ya little— "

"Sunny! Sunny! Sunny!"

The sparkling was laying right on top of Sunstreaker's faceplates, Bumblebee's bright baby blue optics staring right down into the warrior's icy blue ones. Soft twitters escaped the minibot's vocal processor as he latched onto the older mech's head, refusing to let go even when Blades released Sunny from the arm-bar.

"I win," laughed Blades mockingly, narrowly avoiding Sunstreaker's flailing arm.

"Bumblebee?"

Click. Chirp. Buzz. Twitter. Click.

"Get _**off**_ of my face!"

Bumblebee twittered and buzzed indignantly when the older mech attempted to pry him off of his faceplates, his little arms and legs curling around Sunstreaker's cranium and locking together in a vice-like grip. The golden twin roared in frustration, thoroughly annoyed by the sparkling's gritty persistence, but not willing to get any rougher for fear of harming the stubborn little minibot. Not even Sunstreaker was willing to hurt the tenacious sparkling.

"What in the galaxy is going on here?" demanded a familiar voice.

"Opt!"

Sunstreaker groaned in pain when the sparkling suddenly jumped up and ran across the room to their commander, stepping on his aching noseplate in the process. Bumblebee squealed in delight when Optimus snatched him up, cradling him in the crook of his arm as Sunstreaker rose to his feet. The golden twin glared at the giggling sparkling, watching as the little bot clicked away in their commander's protective arms.

"This isn't over, ya lil' glitch," warned Sunstreaker, wagging one of his fingers in front of the sparkling's faceplates. Bumblebee's optics followed the digit with fascination, going slightly cross-eyed when it stopped right in front of his tiny noseplate. "I'll get ya yet. Ya jus' wait."

Bumblebee clicked curiously, grabbing the thick digit with his own tiny fingers. The other Autobots anxiously watched as the sparkling examined the golden finger, blue optics scrutinizing it for a reason unknown to all others except the little yellow bundle of wires. After a few moments of waiting, most of the mechs decided nothing was going to happen and turned away to resume their training until…

"OWWW!"

Sunstreaker leapt away from the sparkling, staring down at his injured digit like it had contracted a level-five processor-threatening virus.

"The lil' fragger _**bit**_ me!"

"Sunstreaker!" scolded Optimus Prime, his burly arms curled around the sparkling like a protective covering. "What have I told you about using such obscene language when around Bumblebee?"

"Ya're worried about me _**swearin'**_ when that lil' thing's _**biting**_ people?" shrieked the warrior twin indignantly. "I think ya got ya're priorities fritzed up, Chief!"

_**"AAHHHHHH!"**_

The entire room seemed to shake from the sparkling's circuit-shattering cries, his tiny hand clutching at Optimus's broad chassis. The towering mech winced in response to the piercing wails, his processor buzzing from the sudden overload that his sensitive audio receptors were experiencing. Optimus gazed down at the crying sparkling and wished that he had stayed in his nice and quiet office.

"Now look what ya did, Sunny!"

"Nice going, Sunstreaker!"

It had only taken a few short astroseconds for the entire rec room to erupt into a whirlwind of complete and utter chaos. Raindance was arguing with a good number of his fellow aerial bots who were saying that he should have never allowed Sideswipe to take the sparkling. Then there was poor Trailbreaker who was trying to break up a brawl that had started between the twins and some of the minibots, who had clearly said something to irritate the already frazzled brothers.

Optimus Prime suddenly felt very overwhelmed.

The sparkling continued to wail in his arms, Bumblebee's tiny faceplates pressed into Optimus's thick chassis as he attempted to open the hatch to the titanic commander's carrying hold. Optimus often carried Bumblebee in his hold whenever they were alone or Ironhide was sent away on an important mission. And unlike with Ironhide, Bumblebee could always connect to Optimus's spark and seek nourishment from its blazing warmth.

"Stupid fragger!"

"Idiotic glitch-head!"

Optimus sighed in exasperation, cradling Bumblebee close to his spark as the tiny mech's wails slowly began to dissolve into quiet whimpers and watery hiccups. The huge commander ran his fingers lightly up and down the sparkling's panels, hoping that his mere presence would be enough to sooth Bumblebee's quivering spark. He had more important things to deal with than bickering amongst his troops.

And who onboard _Artemis I_ was better at dealing out fitting punishments than the Prime Commander himself?

"Prowl?"

_Yes, Prime?_

"Would you please come down to the rec room immediately," said Optimus when he heard the tactician's voice on the comlink. "We have a slight situation."

_What did the twins do now?_

The military strategist sighed in exasperation and Optimus couldn't help but grin at Prowl's question, "Sunstreaker upset Bumblebee and then managed to start a twenty-five mech brawl in the recreational room. I will not be able to dissolve this on my own. I have other issues to deal with and my arms are quite full at the moment."

With a little yellow bundle of wires, of course.

_I will be down in a few astroseconds to resolve the issue,_ answered the strategist, his voice taking on its usual all-business-and-no-play tone. _I just hope that—_

**_"Enough!"_**

Optimus winced when he heard the familiar bellow of his weapons specialist, the tell-tale sound of his plasma cannons silencing the entire room within a few moments as he made his formidable presence known to all in the rec room. Bumblebee simply squeaked, his tiny frame burrowing into Optimus's chest as Ironhide began to rip into the mechs who were unfortunate enough to get in his rampaging path.

"What did you glitch-heads do now!"

"Well, it kinda started with…"

Optimus simply shook his head and walked out of the room, passing by Prowl and Red Alert as they arrived to dissolve the situation and dish out punishments. Optimus was more than willing to allow his second-in-command to deal with this situation. He had a much more important problem to resolve at the moment.

"Hush, little one," cooed Optimus, lightly stroking the sparkling's sensitive audio receptors as he strode down a deserted hallway. The Autobot commander slowly opened the hatch to his carrying hold and allowed Bumblebee to scurry inside the warm crevice that was housed directly in front of his brilliant spark. "There now, all better?"

Bumblebee squeaked in contentment, squirming around for a few moments as he attempted to find a comfortable position before finally curling into a tight little ball and connecting to Optimus's brilliantly glowing spark. Optimus gently stroked Bumblebee's head and then closed the sparkling inside, more content at this moment than he had been in many orns.

"Now," said Optimus whilst walking towards his office, "Perhaps I will finally be able to get some data-chips done."

* * *

Well, I'm not as pleased with this chapter as I was with the first one, but I hope that everyone enjoys it. I found the ending to be rather easy to write, but the middle section gave me some problems. And I encourage everyone to go and take a look at Middernacht's picture of baby Bumblebee that she drew for me on Deviantart. It is absolutely perfect and even includes Rufus! And I will try to update Youngling as soon as possible. Well, with that said, I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter and that it lives up to your expectations! Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter III : Hound

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

This is simply going to be a story of fluffy thoughts that pop into my head, so it probably won't be as structured as my other stories. And I would like to give an extra-big thanks to everyone who took the time to review and I have had a number of requests for Hound, so this chapter will be about him. And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Night Fire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.

Now remember, Bumblebee may seem OOC here because he is _very _young, practically a baby-bot. This is how some of my very little cousins and much younger brother would probably act in a situation like this, so be open-minded and nice, please. Bumblebee would want that.

Sparkling - Chapter III - Hound

* * *

The sleek silver hallways of the titanic Autobot battleship, _Artemis I_, shone faintly beneath the glowing lights of the ceilings and the faint humming of various machines and equipment could be heard through the doorways. A series of shouts were the only form of noise that penetrated the peaceful silence, the harsh tones of a particularly indignant mech floating through the sealed doorway of the rec room. However, it was the voice of one mech in particular that could be heard throughout the ship

"No **_way_** in the Pit!" shouted the familiar roaring voice of Sunstreaker. "I am _**not**_ gonna defile these gorgeous hands with such a...such a...disgusting act!"

"Stop acting like such a sparkling, Sunny!" snapped Hound. "Now get your aft over here and help me!"

The second-shift had just recently left, leaving the usually bustling rec room silent aside from the aforementioned mechs, another small group of aerial bots who were at the far side of the room playing chips, and the minibots in the weight room. However, Hound much preferred to keep the room silent and keep his evening simple. Unfortunately, Sunny was making that desire quite a bit more difficult.

"No way!" shouted Sunstreaker, his large frame slowly edging towards the doors that led to the safety of the outside corridor, "I am **_not_** going to degrade myself by—" 

_**"AAAAHHHH!!"**_

The Autobot scout sighed in frustration when the peaceful silence of the rec room was suddenly disturbed by the familiar deafening cries of a sparkling. Hound set down the little flushing container that Ironhide had given him and leaned over the small cradle that rested to his left on the couch. He smiled down at the tiny mech who was snuggled within a wide array of soft yellow blankets.

"Now look what you did, Sunny," groaned Hound, his thick finger gently rubbing one of the sparkling's cheekplates, "You woke Bumblebee up!"

"I did not!!"

The sparkling's wails soon dissolved into quiet hiccups, his wide baby blue optics gazing up at the familiar face of his gentle caretaker. His tiny frame was snuggled deep in the blankets of his sparkling carrier, a device specially designed by Wheeljack to protect and lull the sparkling into slumber. Rufus was clutched tightly in the little bot's arms, his tiny digits grasping at the durable fabric as Hound shifted the carrier around to face him.

"Now I have to flush his tanks while he's awake," sighed Hound, his fingers deftly undoing the small latches that kept Bumblebee snugly strapped in, "You just couldn't help me, could you?"

"I'm not touching that!!"

"It's just a flushing kit," explained Hound, his usually limitless patience beginning to wear thin as Sunstreaker's vanity grated on his nerves, "It's not going to bite you!"

Sunstreaker simply grimaced, glaring down at the little container with an intense disdain and severe loathing. His comrades rolled their optics, all of them having performed the tank flushing at least once before when they were watching the sparkling. The golden twin was one of the few mechs who had not flushed the sparkling's tanks yet even though his brother had countless times.

"That's not the point!"

"Whatever you say, Sunshine," murmured Hound whilst hefting the sparkling out of the carrier and into the crook of his left arm, "Come here, lil' buddy."

Bumblebee twittered and buzzed quietly, his optics watching curiously as the dark green scout laid a bright yellow receiving blanket onto the floor. Hound shifted the small mech and carefully placed him on his back atop the blanket, setting Rufus to the side as he then grabbed the kit from the nearby table. The scout pulled out a small container that had two thin tubes attached to it before deftly unlatching and removing the panels that covered the sparkling's little bottom.

Bumblebee whimpered in displeasure.

"Oh, I know, I know," cooed Hound, his large fingers quickly attaching the tubes to a tiny opening on Bumblebee's bottom that led to his fuel tanks. The scout continued to coo and cluck at the sparkling, his mouth plates blowing warm air over the little bot's tiny stomach in an attempt to keep him from crying again. "You're such a fussy lil' sparkling."

Bumblebee simply scrunched up his face and continued to release small whines of annoyance.

"Don't give me that face," scolded Hound, his optics watching as the wastage flowed into the sealed container through the tubes, "It'll be over before you know it."

These words did little to pacify the grouchy sparkling who made his dissatisfaction known with a string of short, aggravated cries that were sprinkled with phony tears. But it was with much practiced repetition that the scout ignored the sparkling's tantrum, keeping his attention fixed on the flow of waste fuel. Despite Wheeljack's and Hoist's best efforts, the tubes frequently detached from the valves during mid-flow as a result of Bumblebee's constant wriggling and squirming.

"There we go," said Hound, detaching the tubes and cleaning up the kit, "All done. And with no mess at all."

The sparkling released a few more irritated chirps whilst the older mech redid his bottom panels, finally seeming content when Hound picked him up and placed him a short distance away on the floor. Bumblebee happily grabbed hold of one of the cubes that lie scattered, his optics widening when the once tangible object suddenly disappeared from right beneath his fingertips. The tiny bot squeaked in surprise, twittering and buzzing in a desperate attempt to get his caretakers' attention.

"I think ya jus' scared the Pit outta the sparkling, Hound," stated Sunstreaker as he finally declared it safe to touch the tiny bot with his pristine hands. He easily picked up the little minibot and helped him toddle towards the mound of toys that lie to the right side of the couch. "Yer holo stopped workin' when Bee picked one of 'em up."

"'olo..." gurgled the sparkling, his optics widening as he picked up another cube and threw it at Sunstreaker's feet, "'olo..."

"It's pronounced hol· o, Bee," corrected the golden twin, leaning down so that he could look the sparkling in the optics, "Hol· o, can ya say tha', hol· o."

Bumblebee simply stared up at the warrior mech, his processor not comprehending the words that were coming out of his caretaker's vocal capacitor. So, in typical sparkling fashion, he simply pushed himself upright and crawled toward the group of aerial bots who were busy playing chips on the other side of the room.

Perhaps they would give him some time-worthy attention.

"Ungrateful brat," murmured Sunstreaker, turning to walk towards the weight room to get some much-needed exercise. And perhaps a little bit of minibot-thrashing practice.

The past few orns had been **_so_** boring.

"Hey, Sunny!" said Hound a half-breem later, "Do you know where..."

The Autobot scout turned around and stopped mid-sentence, a puzzled expression slowly causing his mouthplates to descend into a bemused frown. Where in the Pit did that frag-head wander off to?

"Sunny?" The scout glanced around once again before scanning the room with his heat-seeking tracking system, still not locating the psychotic golden twin after a few more moments of searching the room. "Sunny!" The dark green mech then noticed something else rather distressing. "Where the frag is Bumblebee?!"

"What the slag are ya yellin' 'bout?" snapped Sunstreaker, his familiar golden head appearing from around the corner of the weight room. "Can't ya see tha' I'm—" 

"Where is he?!"

"Who?"

"Bumblebee!!"

"Oh."

"You were supposed to watch him!" shouted Hound, his tracking systems already scanning the rec room for signs of the little yellow sparkling. "How could you be so stupid!"

"You didn't say a word to me 'bout watchin' him!"

"I shouldn't have had to!" reasoned Hound, his scans turning up with nothing as he then moved towards the weight room. "When there's a sparkling in the room, you are supposed to watch him! Especially when he's on the floor!"

Sunstreaker never got a chance to respond before the seething scout was out of the rec room and scanning all of the adjoining chambers. And it wasn't long before the dark green scout had recruited Silverbolt, Skydive, Fireflight, Cliffjumper, and Gears to the search party. Unfortunately, after more than ten breems of searching the group still was not able to locate the mischievous sparkling.

"Ironhide is going to kill me," groaned Hound, quickly descending another flight of steps in order to comb the lower storage levels. "How could I lose him? How?!"

And it was at that moment that Hound saw a flash of yellow skitter around the far corner of the hallway.

"Bingo."

Hound wasted no time in covering the distance between himself and the little blur that he had seen disappear. He rounded the corner within a few astroseconds and grabbed the scruff-bar of the fleeing sparkling. Bumblebee twittered in anger, his tiny arms and legs flailing about as Hound held him up to optic level.

"I found him," announced the scout over his com-link, listening to an assortment of sighs on the other end. At least now they were safe from the blunt of Ironhide's wrath. "He was in the western corridor of the lower storage bay. Return to the rec room if you do not have a shift to attend."

"Down!" shouted Bumblebee. "Now! Down!"

"I don't think so, you little sneak," scolded Hound. "I'm not letting you out of my sight for a **_long_** time."

Bumblebee pouted in displeasure, his faceplates scrunching up as he began to yell and kick and scream at the highest of decibel levels. Hound simply sighed and shut off the receptors in the lower levels of his cranial circuitry, accustomed to these sudden tantrums that Bumblebee enjoyed throwing when he did not get his own way. The sparkling did not stop even after they had arrived in the rec room, his tiny form kicking and squealing in his caretaker's unyielding arms.

"He just doesn't stop, does he?" said Silverbolt, smiling down at the cranky little face. "Hate to think of what he'll be like when he can walk more than thirty steps without toppling over."

"Best not to think about it until the time comes," replied Hound, wrestling the little mech around in his arms and then strapping him securely into his carrier, "He's enough of a handful as it is at the moment."

Bumblebee continued to scream even louder once he was strapped in, his hands clawing at the straps in frustration whilst his little legs kicked incessantly at the blankets. The other mechs in the room grimaced at the piercing sound, their audio receptors letting them know full-well how much abuse they were sustaining from this particular tantrum.

"Hound! Mute him!"

"Watch your processor, Slingshot!" growled Hound, pushing aside the blueprints that he had sprawled across the table and returning to gaze down at the wailing sparkling. With a long-suffering sigh, Hound grabbed a spare blanket from the couch and dropped it over the handle of the carrier so that it obscured the sparkling's view of the room. "Enough, little one, it's time for sleep now."

It was not long before the sparkling's piercing screams lulled into soft cries and then into quiet hiccups that caused every mech in the room to sigh with relief. Hound let out a loud sigh himself, leaning back against the couch as the carrier soon fell silent and stopped rocking from the strength of Bumblebee's kicks. And it was only after silence had fallen that an idea struck him.

Flexing his right hand, Hound slowly lifted the side of the blanket about two meters and slipped his palm in over the edge of the carrier. He let the blanket fall back down and then turned on the holo-projector that was positioned just below his wrist. The dark green scout knew exactly what would entertain his little charge.

"What're you doin'?" inquired Fireflight, his attention diverted from the holovid by the sudden movement near the sparkling carrier. Despite the young jet's reckless habits, he was an extremely attentive babysitter and rarely ever allowed Bumblebee out of his sight. "You're goin' to wake him up."

"Shhh,"said Hound, placing a finger in front of his mouthplates in a silent plea for the young mech to be quiet and listen. And it was not long for they heard a familiar sound that was very reassuring...

The sound of quiet chirps and soft coos.

"Holograms are wonderful things," stated Hound with a satisfied smile on his faceplates and a warm glow in his deep blue optics. "Especially when it comes to entertaining a fussy sparkling."

Fireflight grinned, leaning across the table and just slightly raising the blanket so that he could see what could tame the sparkling's monstrous cries. And what Fireflight laid optics upon made his grin grow even wider if that were possible.

"You're a genius, Hound!"

On the inside of the sparkling carrier were holograms of tiny buzzing bumblebees, their fuzzy little bodies floating just out of Bumblebee's grasping digits. The sound of soft music could be heard as well, complimenting the melodious buzzes of the yellow and black cyber-insects. Bumblebee's quiet coos and little clicks slowly began to drift off as his baby blue optics drooped into slumber.

"Works every time," said Hound whilst lightly running one of his fingers over the sparkling's cheek plate. "Lil' bot was so tired that he's clicking."

* * *

_Several joors later..._

The intimidating black form of the Autobot's resident weapons specialist loomed in the doorway, his menacing silhouette spilling across the floor as he returned from his double-shift of brig duty. He prayed to Primus that Hound had Bumblebee all ready for recharge, because his processor was frazzled from the interrogations that he had been stuck doing for the past twelve joors. The last thing Ironhide wanted to deal with right now was a dirty, cranky sparkling.

"Please tell me he's had a bath and been fed," pleaded Ironhide when he saw the dark green scout sitting on the couch with Bumblebee's carrier to his right side. The big mech's optics were barely fighting back the urge to fall into recharge at the moment and he did not feel like bathing a fussy sparkling. "And if he hasn't, well, then you can keep him for the night."

"Don't worry, Ironhide," assured Hound, cocking his head to the side in a relaxed manner so that he could get a better view of his comrade. "I've already given Bumblebee his bath and I'm almost done feedin' him right now."

The older mech blinked a few times and then leaned over the side of the couch so that he could gaze down into the face of his beloved sparkling. Bumblebee's small digits had a firm grip on the bottle, his tiny mouth suckling greedily on the small tube at the top. The minibot's optic lids were drooped in contentment, his little legs kicking occasionally when the sweet fluid reached his hungry tanks. But it was the familiar sound of his huge guardian's voice that truly caused the sparkling to react with excitement.

"'Hide!" squealed Bumblebee, his tiny arms reaching up to his guardian once he was done with the bottle. "'Hide!"

"Come 'ere, buddy," grunted Ironhide, readily taking his little charge into his arms so that his younger comrade could dispose of the used sparkling bottle. "You didn't give Hound a rough time, did ya?"

The sparkling shook his head 'no'.

"He's been a little seraph," said Hound with a soft chuckle as he handed Ironhide the sparkling carrier and then walked off to clean the bottle. "Didn't make a peep the whole time."

"Well, that's a rare occurrence," stated Ironhide, looking down at his sparkling with disbelieving optics. "Why don't you behave when you're with me?"

Bumblebee simply chirped in indignation.

"I left everything in the carrier, so he's ready to go!" called Hound as he left the rec room with a wave.

But it was the odd image of little yellow dots floating in the air around the dark green scout which puzzled the older mech. Perhaps his lack of recharge was making his one good optic go on the fritz.

Primus knew that it would not be the first time.

"Well, lets get you into recharge," groaned Ironhide whilst glaring down at the little carrier in his right hand. He hated the thing. But there were too many other mechs within optical sight for him to allow Bumblebee to slip unnoticed into his carrying hold. If Ratchet found out how often he was carrying Bumblebee...

Well, Ironhide preferred not to think about it.

He had enough dents as it was without that fragging medic and his Pit-slagging wrenches adding any more to his collection.

"This'll just have to do," he sighed, tenderly setting the sparkling into the carrier and then tucking him snugly into the soft yellow blankets. Once Bumblebee was strapped in and covered up, Ironhide handed the tiny bot his beloved stuffed toy, Rufus, and then put one more blanket over top for added warmth.

The last thing he needed was for Bumblebee's heating system to drop down to sub-normal levels and weaken his internal firewall. Ironhide did not even want to think about his little sparkling contracting a virus.

And although _Artemis I_ was an extremely safe ship, it was currently docked on a planet that Ironhide knew very little about and all it would take was one wayward glance or security malfunction for something to sneak onboard. And the thought of something touching his little sparkling was enough to make Ironhide's energon boil with bloodthirsty rage.

Ironhide would rather be safe than sorry when it came to his sparkling.

Bumblebee squeaked in contentment, his little head cushioned by the small pillow that was situated at the top of the carrier seat. The familiar presence of his guardian was enough to lull him into a state of near-slumber, his optics drooping as he listened to the creaking of the weapons specialist's shifting frame. In Bumblebee's little world, the only thing that he had to worry about was whether or not he could avoid bath time without getting caught by his caretakers.

But in Ironhide's world, there were much bigger things for him to worry about, especially when they involved the well-being of his adopted sparkling.

And one of those worries was watching him as he walked down the hallway with his sparkling safely nestled in one of his almighty hands. And despite Ironhide's mighty efforts, there was only so much that he could protect his precious sparkling from in the universe.

* * *

I am terribly sorry that it has taken me so long to update. I have been so busy lately that it often seems that I don't know which way I am coming or going half of the time. I was not too pleased with this chapter, but I just wanted to get something up for those of you who have been patient with me when it comes to updating. I hope this is up to your expectations to some degree, so thank you for taking the time to read!!


	4. Chapter IV : Intruder

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

This is simply going to be a story of fluffy thoughts that pop into my head, so it probably won't be as structured as my other stories. I would also like for everyone who reads this to go check out the pictures Middernacht has drawn for me on Deviantart. They are amazing!! And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Nightfire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.

Sparkling - Chapter IV - Intruder

* * *

The sleek silver hallways of the titanic Autobot battleship, _Artemis I_, shone faintly beneath the glowing lights of the ceilings and the faint humming of various machines and equipment could be heard through the doorways. A deep silence hung in the chilly air of the vessel's hallways, the late shift quietly patrolling the endless corridors with cautious steps so as not to disturb their recharging comrades. One mech in particular was being a little more quiet than usual as he finished up his ornly reports.

"Slaggin' Prowl," grumbled Ironhide, his tired optics skimming over the data-chip that lay on his work desk. "Always wantin' everything done by the book. Frag him."

Despite the boiling frustration that laced his voice, Ironhide made sure that he did not speak too loud for fear of awakening his sparkling. His optics turned to gaze down at the pale yellow and white crib that lie to his left side, the small form slumbering within its protective rails bundled in a mass of soft blankets. The ship had been oddly cold over the past few orns and Ironhide did not wish for Bumblebee's internal firewalls to weaken and allow a virus to spread into his systems.

"Why in the Pit is it so cold?" wondered Ironhide, his optics skimming over the ventilation grates on the ceiling. He slowly got up and inspected the opening, surprised when he felt frigid air blowing against his fingertips. "What the…"

His room was _**never**_ supposed to be this cold. Not with the sparkling in it.

Ironhide shook his head in frustration and bemusement, not at all pleased with these turn of events. He was also partially angry at himself for not noticing the sudden drop in temperature before now. It was far too chilly in this room for the slumbering Bumblebee to be left alone for any short period of time. So Ironhide knew that he would have to take Bumblebee with him to Red Alert's office on the security deck.

"Come here, little one," grunted Ironhide, gently scooping Bumblebee's tiny frame into his hands, blankets and all, and cradling him against his broad shoulder. The tiny mech squeaked groggily, his sleepy optics partially opening to gaze up at his guardian whilst his small fingers instinctively reached out to feel familiar black metal. "Shh, little one, go back to sleep, everything's alright," the titanic weapons specialist cooed.

Bumblebee buzzed quietly, burrowing his little head into the crook of Ironhide's thick neck as the older mech continued to run his fingers along the sparkling's back. The weapons specialist released a sigh of relief and tenderly wrapped the blankets around the sparkling as he exited the room.

"Whoever touched the heating system is going to be visiting the Hatchet very soon," rumbled the black mech as he strode down the deserted corridor. "Do they _**want**_ Bumblebee to contract a virus?!"

The aforementioned sparkling simply curled even further into his guardian, small clicks and gentle chirps escaping his vocal processor as Ironhide wrapped one enormous hand over his shivering frame. Ironhide was even to this moment still amazed by just how tiny Bumblebee was compared to himself and his fellow Autobots. Even before the war had broken out, Ironhide could not recall ever having seen a sparkling quite as small nor as precious as his little Bumblebee.

Truthfully, Ironhide would have preferred to have simply put Bumblebee into his warm carrying hold, but the sparkling had been curled up inside of it for nearly the past two orns. The only time Bumblebee had spent outside of Ironhide's hold had been during his last brig duty a half joor ago. Ironhide was no expert on physiology, but he was pretty sure that being curled up in the same position for such a long period of time was not good for Bumblebee's physical development.

Even shoot-first-ask-questions-later Ironhide was willing to admit that.

And if the Hatchet ever found out just how often Ironhide was carrying the yellow sparkling, well, Ironhide would more than likely receive a long-winded lecture and wrench to the faceplates. The Pit-fragging medic had been watching him like a robo-hawk over the past few vorns. Then again, Ironhide really did not care what the cranky medical officer had to say, anyways.

Bumblebee was **_his_** sparkling and Ironhide would carry _**his**_ sparkling as much as he wanted. Period.

"Red Alert?" queried Ironhide when he came to the security director's office. He waited for a few moments before saying into the intercom on the outside of the doorway, "It's Ironhide." He waited another few astroseconds. "I have Bumblebee with me, so open the fraggin' door already, would ya?"

The sound of clicking resounded not even an astrosecond later, the familiar head of Red Alert peeking out from around the corner of the doorway. "Come in," said Red Alert, motioning for the older mech to enter immediately. "Why in the galaxy are you out so late with the sparkling?"

"Because our room's so cold that I don't wanna leave him behind for more than a breem," stated Ironhide, immediately slumping into one of the chairs before shifting the sparkling into a more comfortable position on his other shoulder. "I can see particles in the air for Pit's sake, that's how cold it's gotten in there."

"That's odd," murmured the red mech, immediately moving to one of his consoles on the far side of the room, "I have not detected any malfunctions within the system. But I will run a diagnostic and full-system scan right away."

Ironhide merely watched as his paranoid comrade continued to mutter about all of the possibilities of intruders infiltrating his ventilation system, most involving some bizarre conspiracy theory that the Decepticons had speared into action. The weapons specialist let out a quiet sigh, accustomed to the eccentric ways of the twitchy Autobot, and closed his drowsy optics as the soothing hum of the computers and monitors lulled him into a light recharge against his will. After all, it wasn't like a short nap could do any damage, right?

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that the sparkling decided to awaken from his recharge. Bumblebee clicked quietly, his droopy optics gazing up at his guardian whilst his tiny digits curled around a thick black finger. His interest slowly drifted towards the other side of the room, a soft twitter escaping his vocal processor as he watched Red Alert talk to himself and the sleeping Ironhide. Sadly, the poor security director had no clue that his only listening audience was a little yellow sparkling.

Click. Buzz. Click. Twitter. Click. Chirrup. Buzz. Click.

"Oh, hello there, little one," said Red Alert, jumping slightly in surprise when he turned around and saw the tiny sparkling clicking at him, "I did not realize that you were awake." His deep blue gaze shifted over to the sleeping black mech. "Or that my target audience had slipped into recharge."

Bumblebee released another series of quiet clicks, his curiosity piqued by the many bright screens that covered the high walls of the Main Security Room. He had never been in this room before but it looked really interesting! Maybe he could—

"Hey, Red!" shouted the familiar voice of Inferno as he appeared in the doorway, his towering frame casting a long shadow as he casually burst into the paranoid mech's safe-zone, "Have ya seen Warpath or the twins in the last few breems?"

The security director nearly jumped out of his frame, his plasma rifle pointed at the form of his best friend, snarling in exasperation, "What have I told about barging into this room without some form of warning, Inferno?!"

"Ya worry too much, Red," said the huge mech with a nonchalant wave, "Besides, ya should be used to it by…" He slowly trailed off, his gaze locking onto the little yellow bundle in Ironhide's arms. "Well, well, well, what've we got 'ere? I think it's way past yer recharge time, lil' buddy!"

The sparkling squealed in delight, his tiny frame vibrating with excitement while his guardian awoke with a violent jolt and a loud snort. Ironhide instinctively clutched the tiny yellow bundle into the crook of his arm, earning a muffled squeak from the little mech. He did not appreciate being handled so roughly!

"What the frag!" grumbled Ironhide, his droopy optics shifting around the room before they finally landed on his large comrade, "Oh, it's jus' you, Inferno."

"Yeah, it's jus' good ol' me," chuckled the search and rescue specialist, his dark blue optics twinkling with warmth as he affectionately patted the sparkling atop the head. "But, I think we've got a little problem that needs to— "

"I found the problem," shouted Red Alert suddenly, his fingers rapidly dancing over the keys on one of the terminal's keyboards. "It would seem that four of the temperature regulation gauges were turned off on the fifth floor." The security director's brow ridges furrowed in thought. "But I don't understand how that's possible…"

"What do you mean?" asked Ironhide. "I thought the temperature of each level could be manually adjusted on that floor?"

"Well, they can be, but it would seem that the same four gauges were turned off on more than just the fifth floor," he murmured, his optics carefully scanning the screens as he became more and more uneasy. "There's no reason for anyone to need to adjust more than two gauges unless there was a— "

BBBOOOMMM!!

The three Autobots instantly jumped to their feet when they heard the loud sound of an explosion echo through the battleship, followed shortly by a blaring alarm that Red Alert himself had installed a few vorns ago. It was not long before Prowl's familiar voice resounded over the intercom system.

"Every mech who had brig duty within the past four shifts is to report to the tenth level immediately! I repeat: Every mech who had brig duty within the past four shifts is to report to the tenth level immediately!"

Both Ironhide and Inferno were out of the room within less than an astrosecond as Red Alert went into a glitch-like frenzy over the terminal screens. The weapons specialist returned to his room first and placed the sparkling into his crib, Inferno waiting impatiently at the door as the alarm continued to blare in the background. They could clearly hear the sound of shouts as their comrades ran towards the tenth floor.

"Hurry up, 'Hide!"

"I'm coming!" snarled the larger mech as he jammed a roll of plasma missiles into his left cannon. "I can't be caught unprepared in case any of them fraggin' 'Cons decide to get frisky," he argued with a malicious smirk.

"What 'bout him?" asked Inferno as they were about to leave the room, his optics catching sight of the sparkling who was watching them from his crib. "We can't jus' leave him, can we?"

The sparkling was watching the pair with watery optics, tiny whimpers starting to escape his voice capacitor when he realized that the two mechs were going to leave him alone. Bumblebee gave the inflexible rails of his crib a few good shakes before reaching out with his arms for Ironhide.

"'Hide! No go! Take Bee!" cried the sparkling, his tiny frame quivering in fright from the loud sounds all around him. "Take Bee!"

Ironhide sighed and walked over to the cradle, placing an enormous hand atop the sparkling's head before giving him a soft kiss on the forehead. He knew he could not sneak Bumblebee into his carrying hold without Inferno noticing, so he was in a lose-lose situation. "You be a good mech and take a quick nap while I'm gone, okay? And cover up nice an' tight with those blankets, understood?"

This did little to pacify the sparkling who simply began to whimper even louder at his guardian's words.

The titanic mech gazed down at his sparkling with sorrowful optics, inwardly chastising himself for not putting Bumblebee into his carrying hold in the first place. He could have avoided this whole situation if he had simply slipped Bumblebee in before going to the security room. But he knew it was not good for Bumblebee to stay in a curled position for too long, so Ironhide had decided when he picked Bumblebee up from Raindance's room that the sparkling would have to recharge in his crib for the night.

Now Ironhide really wished he had gone with his instincts.

"I'll be back as soon as possible, little one," reassured Ironhide as he stood and forced himself to ignore the cries of his sparkling, "And I'll send someone up to watch you in less than a breem. I promise."

Bumblebee's whimpers turned into quiet sobs when he saw the two older mechs disappear out into the hallway and the door swiftly slid shut in their wake. The sparkling did not like being left alone. He wanted Ironhide to hold him in his strong arms and make the loud noises go away.

"'Hide…"

The sparkling continued to whimper for a few more moments before he finally crawled under the soft yellow blankets of his crib and snuggled into his fluffy pillows for extra warmth. He wrapped both of his arms tightly around Rufus and sniffled a few times. Bumblebee was rarely ever alone in his room and the only thing keeping him calm at the moment was the familiar softness and light yellow hue of his cradle.

Bumblebee would have much preferred to have been curled up in the warm safety of his guardian's carrying hold. He loved the blazing hot feel of the older mech's spark and frequently fell into recharge against it. Ironhide never objected to his demands to be placed within it; instead, he seemed to encourage the sparkling to ride inside him. In all truth, the only place Bumblebee felt safer than Ironhide's carrying hold was Optimus's, but that was probably because the sparkling was able to connect to the Autobot commander's spark.

And what a warm, nourishing spark it was.

It was a short while longer before the alarm finally stopped going off, but then the eerie silence of the room and surrounding hallways made Bumblebee feel more than a little uncomfortable. However, it was not until the sparkling heard the sound of skittering claws on metal that he truly became fearful of his solitary dilemma.

The quiet scratching went on for about a half-breem with a few loud bangs echoing through the room every once in a while. Bumblebee simply sat beside the rails of his crib with a blanket wrapped around him, his optics following the sounds as they moved from one wall to another. He slowly came to the conclusion that whatever it was that was running through the ventilation system of the walls could not possibly be threatening. If anything, it seemed to possess an awful sense of direction. Perhaps even worse than Fireflight…

And that was saying **_a lot_.**

Bumblebee had lost count of how many times he had heard the resounding bang of the thing running _**into** _the walls.

Maybe the thing had gotten into the twin's secret stash of high-grade?

Oh, the Hatchet would just _**love**_ that!

The sparkling continued to listen to the non-threatening bangs and clangs of the thing in the wall, his small legs swinging back and forth through the rails as he waited for the thing to discover one of the three vents that marked the room's lower walls. Bumblebee had concluded that something that stupid could not possibly be a threat to him and that he had no reason to be afraid of whatever it was that had invaded the ship.

BANG!!

Bumblebee rolled his optics in exasperation. He could not believe that the thing had not discovered the air vents yet.

How dumb could it possibly be?

Bumblebee himself could barely walk more than two dozen steps before his weak, infantile legs gave out on him, and even he had already made a go at getting into the ventilation system. And he was pretty sure that if he had been able to get into the system, he would have easily been able to get out of it too. It could not possibly be _**that**_ hard to navigate through!

The sparkling released a few distinctively agitated clicks, his small arms crossing as he mapped out the ventilation system in his processor. He could already picture the slope of the tunnels as they moved from floor to floor, angling upwards and downwards with a number of little grooves in the sides. Those grooves would make perfect footholds for a mech who still crawled more than he walked. Besides, Bumblebee would probably be able to move quicker inside those fragging walls than out in the towering hallways of the battleship.

He could never seem to make it from one room to another without his legs giving out.

_I hate walking_, sulked the sparkling internally, _Who needs it, anyways? Crawling's much better!_

The sound of devious twitters and buzzes filled the air as the little mech planned his journey through the vast tunnels of _Artemis I_. Bumblebee could barely contain himself as he pictured the weaving metal passageways. He would have his great adventure and he did not plan on being bested by whatever it was in there already! But first…

He needed to get out of this Pit-forsaken crib.

Bumblebee ignored the loud banging sounds of Thing and looked around his crib for anything that would help him get up and over the rails. The sparkling spotted a few cubes in the far corner of his crib that he had been playing with the other orn and quickly crawled over to inspect them. They were fairly large in size and very durable. Perfect for helping him climb over the rails of his crib.

"Come, Rufus!"

With his stuffed assistant by his side, Bumblebee carefully constructed a small step-ladder along the rail with the ten cubes he had at his disposal. Then, to guarantee that they did not fall over, the sparkling pushed his pillows up alongside the cubes and then placed his soft blankets to the side in case he really did fall. Better to be safe than sorry. And just in case this did not work, Bumblebee did not want Ironhide to find out about what he had been planning during the weapons specialist's absence.

"You first," said the sparkling, throwing Rufus over the rails. "Now Bee."

The sparkling climbed up the makeshift stepladder with wobbly legs, his tiny hands grabbing for the rails as soon as they were within reach. He was not the most balanced mech in the universe and was very aware of this fact. Ratchet assured both Bumblebee and his guardian that the sparkling's poor motor skills and slow physical development were due to his unusually tiny size. Nevertheless, the CMO was very confident that Bumblebee's balance and motor skills would improve with age and the acquisition of new frames.

Then again, Ratchet had also said that younglings were often extremely awkward and clumsy for quite some time after they received a new frame, so Bumblebee was pretty sure that he would be right back at square one when he acquired his second frame in the distant future. Not the most promising coming-of-age ritual if you asked him.

Ironhide always joked that Bumblebee would have so many dents in his cranium by the time he was ready to receive his fourth and final frame that the Hatchet would probably make him wear a reinforced cranial-helmet for the first few vorns.

His guardian had taken a wrench to the noseplate for that particular comment.

Ratchet had hollered at Ironhide for almost an entire joor about "not saying such fraggin' stupid things in front of the sparkling" and "possibly damaging the sparkling's self-esteem for life". In all truth, Bumblebee had not understood what the two snarling mechs were arguing about in the first place, so he had simply sat quietly on the examination table in an attempt to avoid either of the older mechs' wrath.

"Aha!!" cheered Bumblebee when he finally got to the top, his small hands latching onto the rail. He pulled himself the rest of the way up and attempted to sit on the edge of the rail so that he would not take a nasty fall.

Of course, for a clumsy sparkling such as himself, such things rarely worked as planned when matters of balance were involved in a situation.

"Uh oh."

Bumblebee clicked in dismay as he tumbled to the floor, landing hard on his little aft right as Thing decided to run into the wall again. The disgruntled sparkling released a series of vehement clicks and buzzes at the wall, secretly hoping that Thing heard him and muted it.

"Owwie!"

Once Bumblebee was done tending to his aching aft, he crawled over to Rufus and retrieved his faithfully waiting partner-in-crime. Not wanting to leave too much evidence behind, the sparkling crawled back to his crib, pushed himself into a standing position, and threw Rufus against the rails. The stuffed toy's right leg hit the top cube and knocked the flimsy stepladder over.

Now the crib looked nothing more than a mess of pillows, blankets, and toys.

Perfect.

The sparkling regarded his work with a satisfied nod before proceeding to crawl across the floor towards the nearest air vent. Thankfully, the vent was only located about two meters off the ground, so Bumblebee would not have a difficult time infiltrating the ventilation system.

Well, that was if Ironhide did not catch him first. His guardian tended to show up at the most inopportune moments.

Suddenly realizing an important fact, the little mech crawled over and opened the lowest drawer of his guardian's desk, using another one of his toy cubes as a step stool. Bumblebee rummaged around for a few astroseconds before he finally found what he was looking for in the farthest corner of the drawer. Unfortunately, he took quite a tumble before he was able to grab it and the little mech squeaked in displeasure when he felt one of his guardian's numerous tools poke into the opening between his waist and hip plates.

"Frag!!" squeaked the sparkling. "Frag! Frag! Frag!"

Bumblebee twittered in frustration, grabbing a medium-sized screwdriver before climbing out of the drawer and falling onto his aft again. The sparkling retrieved Rufus and crawled over to the vent. Eyeing the screws with concentration, the young mech quickly lifted the screwdriver and began to unscrew the screws on the air vent cover. It took a little over a breem, but Bumblebee eventually managed to get the last screw out and removed the cover with a relieved twitter.

"'Scape time!!" clicked Bumblebee.

The sparkling threw the screwdriver, the screws, and Rufus into the dark tunnel before entering himself a few moments later. And with a quick flourish that involved a short fight with the aformentioned air vent cover being pulled back into place…

Bumblebee was gone.

* * *

Took me quite a while, but I got it up. If you've been reading Youngling, then you are probably well aware of my health issues & the fact that I have not been able to update for a while. But I would like to thank everyone for being patient with me. And I will admit that this was kind of a transitioning chapter, but if there is any Autobot who you would particularly like to see spend time with Bumblebee, just let me know and I will try to either work them in or dedicate a chapter to them. Thanks for reading & I hope it lived up to expectations!!


	5. Chapter V : Fireflight

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

I would like to give an extra-big thanks to Middernacht for yet another wonderful picture she drew of Bumblebee for me. Or you could just go to my profile where I have links for all of the art pieces people have done for me. And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Night Fire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.　

Okay, I know I've reposted this like, twice, so just ignore it. The last two times I've posted it, some large pieces of the chapter have been missing. I don't know why, but lets hope it works correctly this time. I think the site hates me or something.

Sparkling - Chapter V - Fireflight

* * *

The sleek silver hallways of the titanic Autobot battleship, _Artemis I_, shone faintly beneath the glowing lights of the ceilings and the faint humming of various machines and equipment could be heard through the doorways. A serene quiet had settled over the ship as the Autobots secured the middle lower levels and thoroughly reprimanded the captive Decepticon who had managed to short-circuit the electrical bars of his cell. Nevertheless, the obnoxious 'Con had not lasted long after the Autobot's resident weapons had arrived on the scene.

Ironhide had left the smoking brig with a satisfied smirk upon his rough faceplates, contentedly running his fingers up and down his whirring plasma cannons. A stark sense of pride was coursing through his systems, the thrill of beating the slag out of that disgusting 'Con still fresh in his processor. Ironhide had not felt this energized in quite a few orns and that familiar itch of wanting to blow something apart was coming back with a vengeance.

The weapons specialist grunted in frustration as he walked through the halls of the battleship, his cannons pulsing with hot plasma as his gyros and gears whirred with fervent anticipation. Perhaps it would be best if he went to the firing range and released some long pent-up irritation on the holo-'Cons. Then again, there was one big problem with that little excursion: Bumblebee.

And it was as Ironhide turned down the hallway that led to his dormitory that the weapons specialist realized just how long he had left his sparkling alone. With newfound discontent, Ironhide strode down the corridor and punched in the code to open the door to his room.

"Bumblebee?" rumbled Ironhide as he entered the dimly lit room, his optics quickly adjusting to the desk light that cast much of the space in shadows, "I'm back."

Ironhide quietly walked across the room and picked up a few scattered toys that littered the carpeted floor, his ancient gears groaning as he bent over and placed the tiny cubes and action figures into Bumblebee's toy box. Once he was sure that there was not anything left on the floor to trip over, Ironhide decided to take a quick peek in the crib to make sure Bumblebee was soundly in recharge.

"Bee?" whispered Ironhide, walking over towards the crib, "You still awake…"

The massive black mech stared at the interior of the crib, his dark blue optics wide with utter disbelief and spark-wrenching terror. His hands immediately descended into the mess of light yellow blankets and pillows, desperately hoping to feel the small form of his sparkling in the mess somewhere. However, when Ironhide failed to find his sparkling after a few more astroseconds, he did the first thing that came to mind.

The entire ship seemed to shake under the force of the weapons specialist's booming shout, his rough voice resounding throughout the desolate hallways. Within a few seconds the black form of Ironhide could be seen barreling down the corridor, his frantic footsteps surprising the mechs who had came out of their rooms to investigate what was causing this unusual reaction in their comrade. It took a little while, but one mech finally decided to ask what was bothering the ancient mech.

"What's the matter, 'Hide?" asked Smokescreen tiredly.

"He's gone!!!!"

"Who's gone?" questioned Bluestreak, his light gray head peeking out of a door down the corridor, "And why are you running around yelling at this time of night. Some mechs are trying to recharge around here and it's not polite to— "

"Bumblebee's gone!!!!!!!"

* * *

Bumblebee glared angrily at the dead end. He had followed the loud banging and clanging of Thing for the last few breems, but had been unable to locate the exact position of the noisy intruder. Thing was a very fast mover, and Bumblebee's little kneeplates had started to hurt during the last few tunnels as he struggled to keep up. To the little mech, it was quite the adventure, being able to finally get out from underneath the ever watchful optics of his caretakers and simply wander around the never-ending tunnels that made up the ventilation system of _Artemis I_.

He should start doing this more often!

No sooner had the sparkling turned around before he heard a loud bang from at the end of the far intersection he had just come down. With determined crawls, the tiny mech sped down the tunnel and made a sharp right, heading down the darker tunnel that he had bypassed a few astroseconds earlier. Bumblebee hesitated for only a moment when he saw how dark this particular tunnel was, but quickly made up his mind that he was not a scaredy-bot and swiftly disappeared into the glum.

It did not take long for the sparkling to exit into a brighter section of the tunnels that were lit by a few vents that lined the right side of the walls, his whole frame visibly relaxing once he could properly see again. Bumblebee did not see very well in the dark due to the fact he was still far too young to have full-spectrum optical sensors installed into his sensitive optics. The tiny sparkling had lost count of the number of times he had thought Ironhide had left him alone in their room, when in fact the ancient mech was not twelve meters away.

Ironhide could be tricky like that sometimes.

With swift yet quiet crawls, Bumblebee rounded another corner just as loud bang echoed throughout the entire ship. This one, however, was not caused by Thing. The little mech was familiar with this loud type of bang and recognized it as the _Artemis_ docking at a base or outpost. Bumblebee was knocked to side, violently crashing into the wall of the shaft as the entire ship shook forcefully as it came into the docking hangars. With a loud cry of pain and whimper of displeasure, Bumblebee did his best to ride out the numerous convulsions that wracked the ship.

"Owwie!"

Bumblebee glanced around for a moment, an expectant air about the little mech as he exaggeratedly rubbed his aching head and leg plates. It took a quite a few astroseconds for the sparkling to realize that he was completely alone in the shafts and none of his ever watchful and protective caretakers were there to fuss over his dented shin plate. The little mech was unprepared for a situation such as this.

It was very disconcerting.

However, after crawling a few more tunnels over, Bumblebee discovered exactly why the docking had felt so violent to him. The sparkling gazed out through an open air vent and into the main hangar bay of _Artemis I_, which also happened to be the main point of connection between the ship and the base's it docked at. It appeared that the reason the docking had felt so tumultuous was because Bumblebee had been mere meters away from the shook-up shaft that would connect the ship and the base together.

"Explains lots," murmured the sparkling.

With a squeak of exertion, Bumblebee tumbled out of the vent and into one of the many large crates that lined the far side of the hangar. It was not long before the sparkling heard a distinctive swishing sound down the line of crates, a faint dark flash disappearing around a corner and towards the open hangar doorway. Bumblebee's optics narrowed and he took a quick look around, making sure that no adult mechs were within the vicinity as he followed Thing through the hangar. It did not take long for the sparkling to half-crawl, half-climb his way towards the massive open doorway.

"Wow," breathed Bumblebee, nearly falling back as he gazed up, "Big door."

The sudden sound of loud voices caused the sparkling to gasp in surprise, quickly scuttling through the doorway and into the equally wide open hallway that led into one of the Autobot bases. Anxiety rose up in his tanks as the very real fear of being caught began to overwhelm Bumblebee as he desperately tried to find a place to hide in the long, barren hallway. He could hear the voices getting closer and it would not be long before the adult mechs walked in and found him sitting on the floor.

Bang!!

With a squeak of surprise and fright, Bumblebee turned to the left and watched as a shadow disappeared into the vent on the lower portion of towering walls. The sparkling did not have time to properly think out a plan of action, so it was with a huff of nervous jitters that Bumblebee followed the mysterious Thing into the ventilation system of the Autobot base.

* * *

_Onboard Artemis I…_

The entire ship sounded like it was about to blow up as two large mechs walked down the hallways, both screaming at the top of their vocal capacitors at one another as other members of the watched with wide optics. Every mech was quick to get out of the way of these two particular Autobots, as both were infamous for their extremely violent tempers and tendencies to put massive holes through the thick metal walls of the titanic battleship.

"How could you lose him?!"

"I didn't lose him!!"

"You don't know where he is!! That constitutes losing him!!"

"I only left him alone for a few breems!!"

"You're **_never_** supposed to leave a sparkling alone!! Ever!!"

"This wasn't supposed to happen!!"

A loud explosion rocked the ship as Ironhide blew a massive hole in the wall, his dark blue optics shuddered as he attempted to regain control of himself. Ironhide was not used to being questioned, mostly due to the fact that even his fellow Autobots feared his violent temper, and did not take kindly to his actions being cast into scrutiny. However, there was little he could do to formulate a just argument for his earlier actions and he was now paying the consequences.

"When did you last see him?" asked Ratchet, his voice calmer now.

"I left him about fifteen breems ago," whispered Ironhide, his optics still shut tight as he attempted to rein in his emotions, "I had originally planned to send someone else to watch him, but…"

"You were distracted by other events," Ratchet finished for him, instantly noticing the way his old friend's fists were still clenched in a barely restrained state, "However, we have more important things to worry about than the cause at the moment. Our focus must not shift from the current crisis at hand: finding the sparkling."

"He couldn't've gotten far," stated Blades, "I mean, seriously, the lil' glitch's only 'bout this big." He demonstrated by holding one hand up the top of a shin plate. "There's no way he could've made it down too many hallways."

"He's in the ventilation system."

"What?!" gasped the half-dozen mechs gathered in the room.

"You heard what I said," snapped Ironhide, glaring at his comrades with his one good optic, "The lil' runt obviously thought I wouldn't notice, but my bottom tool drawer was left wide open and the air vent was slightly ajar."

"The one on the ceiling?!" gasped Fireflight. "Wow, I didn't know Bee could— "

The young flier, still well in his youngling vorns himself, got a whack upside the head from Skydive for his cluelessness. "He meant the one on the lower wall, you glitch."

"Oh, I knew that."

Silverbolt gave his bashful charge an exasperated glare, amazed by the innocent nature that the young mech possessed in copious amounts. Next to Bumblebee, Fireflight was the youngest known surviving Autobot and was about the Cybertronian equivalent of a ten-year-old Earth child. Fireflight had been the sole survivor of Youth Sector Delta Sigma, one of the smaller sectors that contained mostly Neutral younglings, and had been found by Ultra Magnus amongst the deactivated frames of his caretakers. It had been obvious that the femmes and guards had fought to the death.

Much like Ironhide, the aerial commander had been assigned guardianship of the young Fireflight shortly after his discovery at Delta Sigma. Optimus had thought it best that Fireflight be taken into the care of a fellow aerialbot, and Silverbolt had been by far the most responsible of the Autobot fliers. Of course, Fireflight had only been about the Cybertronian equivalent of a five-year-old Earth child at the time when Silverbolt had received him; thus, making it impossible for the little red mech to fly. Then again, it was fast approaching the time where Silverbolt was going to have to teach Fireflight how to fly, and the aerial commander was terrified (for reasons other than his phobia of heights).

He was not ready to see his youngling flying yet.

The aerial commander could understand Ironhide's distress very well, especially since Fireflight had disappeared quite a few times during his younger vorns on so-called adventures. It had almost caused Silverbolt to have a spark attack the first time he walked into his dorm only to discover that his mischievous youngling was missing. Never had he felt so scared as at that first moment when he could not find Fireflight. Oh yes, Silverbolt understand the weapons specialist's feelings very well indeed.

"He left the screws in the opening of the shaft, didn't he?" said Fireflight after a few moments of silence, his words coming out more like a statement than a question. "I mean, well, you see…"

Ironhide's brow ridges furrowed in shock, his gravelly voice rumbling, "How'd you know that?"

Fireflight smiled sheepishly when he felt every optic in the room focused on his much smaller, bright red frame and white frame. "Umm…haha…experience," he laughed nervously, trailing off whilst wishing the ground would open up and devour him.

"Experience indeed," murmured his guardian, not at all amused by the stressful memories this situation was bringing forth. "Now tell us, my youngling, just what would possess a sparkling to wander away in such a manner?" Silverbolt fixed stern blue optics on his charge, not at all phased by the large, watery optics Fireflight was currently giving him. "Well?"

"Fun," hazarded the youngling with a shrug. "Adventure, I guess."

"Why do I even bother asking?" groaned the weapons specialist, giving the young mech an exasperated look and an annoyed shake of his head, "Younglings."

Fireflight simply grinned sheepishly up at the towering mech, not intimidated in the least by Ironhide's gruff attitude or hulking frame. Ironhide tended to be much more understanding and compassionate toward younglings, and both Bumblebee and Fireflight were accustomed to his rough yet caring demeanor. Unfortunately, this compassion rarely extended past the younglings and most of Ironhide's other comrades were subjected to his more temperamental and violent nature on an ornly basis. And as a result of this behavior, Fireflight had become rather attached to Ironhide as well.

"What'd I do?" asked Fireflight when the ancient mech stormed out of the room, grabbing hold of a startled Optimus and dragging him back out the doorway that he had just entered. "Silver?"

"Come, my little one," sighed Silverbolt, wrapping a gentle arm around his young charge's shoulders whilst guiding him out of the room, "I think it would be prudent if we helped search the ship for our little yellow friend."

"Was it something I said?"

The aerial commander simply smiled down at his youngling, amused by his naïve and child-like antics. Unlike himself and his sparkmate, who were both extremely mature and professional, Fireflight possessed a carefree and friendly nature that would probably follow the young mech for the rest of his life. Of course, this comparison was rather moot due to the fact that Silverbolt's sparkmate was not even aware of Fireflight's existence nor the guardianship that her sparkmate had undertaken vorns ago. But Silverbolt knew without a shadow of a doubt that if Airazor were to ever meet his flighty and daydreamy little charge…

She would absolutely adore him.

Fireflight was probably one of the sweetest beings Silverbolt had ever met, and that was saying a lot considering the aerial commander's couple-thousand-vorns-old age. The little red flier was extremely easy-going and rarely became upset. His daydreaming and absent-mindedness were occasionally a problem, but it was not something Silverbolt was going to complain too much about. For Primus's sake, Silverbolt could barely remember the last time Fireflight had thrown a tantrum! He certainly had nothing to whine about since it seemed like poor Ironhide had to deal with a temper tantrum almost every single orn.

Frankly, the words cheerful and laid-back barely did his youngling justice.

Fireflight pouted for a moment, not amused by the fact that his guardian was very obviously trying to avoid answering his questions. The young mech's brow furrowed, his processor whirring as he leaned into his much larger guardian's strong frame. Well, now that he thought about it, the adult mechs always seemed to be avoiding certain questions. Namely ones that involved anatomy and how their species repro—

"Fire!"

The youngling jumped in surprise, snapping his head backwards to gaze up at his expectantly staring guardian. Thankfully, the stern expression on Silverbolt's faceplates quickly morphed into a soft smile as he gently placed a hand upon his youngling's head.

"Welcome back," chuckled the aerial commander, "Have fun in dreamland?"

Fireflight pouted at his guardian's teasing, not amused by the jab that Silverbolt was taking at his tendency to drift off into his own little world. And despite his constant denials, Fireflight was well aware of his daydreaming tendencies. He also knew that that was one of the reasons why Silverbolt was so hesitant to teach him how to fly. The twins and Jazz had helped him attempt to fly a few vorns ago when he had received his third frame, and they had done a really good job of coaching him.

Well, until he ran into the air traffic control tower, at least. And then there had been those trees…and the marketplace…and the yard full of alien vehicles…and those obese grazers in the field…and the communications tower…and then finally Sunny's backside. To say the least, that had been the end of the lesson.

Now the twins and Jazz said he was a **_major_** menace to airborne navigation.

Thank Primus that Silverbolt had never found out about that little excursion, even though Fireflight had come home bawling after Sunstreaker's demolition of anything and everything that was a threat to his paintjob right after his collision with the novice flier. It had been a rather trying orn and Silverbolt never did manage to uncover what had caused his darling youngling so much distress and misery. And Fireflight planned to keep it that way.

Fireflight really did not want his guardian and Sunstreaker to get into a fight with one another over him. Fights with Sunstreaker never turned out well for anyone involved. Well, except for Sunstreaker, that is.

"I wasn't daydreaming," snapped the youngling.

"I'm sure," drawled Silverbolt, sarcastically humoring the younger mech as they walked into the main hangar.

The expansive room was packed with empty crates which were to be filled with supplies from the Vector Sigma Autobot Base and Silverbolt more than once had to gently maneuver his absent-minded youngling to and fro in order to prevent him from running into something. Fireflight's new third frame did not help matters either and simply made the already clumsy youngling even more vulnerable to spills and collisions.

"Oww!"

"Come here," sighed Silverbolt, effortlessly hefting the youngling into a forward-carrying position with one arm wrapped around the young mech's front and the other just under his rump so that it appeared like Fireflight was simply sitting in his arms. "It never fails to amaze me how hazardous a room full of boxes can be to your health, my little one."

Fireflight pouted, his childish attitude shining through in all its glory. "I just get distracted easily."

"That you do," agreed Silverbolt as he neared the massive doorway that connected _Artemis I _to Vector Sigma. A sarcastic smirk spread across the aerial commander's faceplates as he prepared to place his youngling back on his feet. "But I would not expect any less of you."

Silverbolt tightened his hold on the youngling for a moment, savoring the feel of the young mech being held in his thick arms. He realized at that moment just how much he missed simply holding the small aerialbot. This was the first time Silverbolt had really held his youngling since Fireflight had received his third frame four vorns ago. Materials to build frames were scarce, so Fireflight's frame was much smaller and slighter than Ratchet said he would have preferred, but they would have to make do. After all, it was the fourth and final frame that really mattered in the end, and Fireflight still had a long way to go before he was ready for that upgrade.

"You sure you can walk on your own?" teased Silverbolt.

"Yes," huffed Fireflight.

The aerial commander carefully set his youngling on the ground, giving him a soft flick atop the head when the little red mech glared indignantly up at him. The glare really did not have that much effect to it, mostly due to the fact that Fireflight only came up to his guardian's lower hip plates. It was a little hard to glare at one of the tallest Autobots when one was not even half the height of said glared-at Autobot.

"If you keep pouting like that, your faceplates are going to get stuck that way," chuckled Silverbolt as they walked into the base. "And that's really not your greatest facial expression, my little one."

The aerial commander would have continued to pick on his pouting youngling, but something at the far end of the hallway caught his attention. He continued to walk deeper into the base, turning a few corners before a similar, slim figure appeared at the end of this hallway as well.

A slim figure with a _**very**_ familiar deep purple and rose red paintjob.

"So when do you think you can teach me to fly?" asked Fireflight, an excited hop to his steps as he incessantly tugged at his guardian's arms. "I really think that I'm ready to start learning and…"

Silverbolt froze at the sudden pulling he felt at his spark.

"Silver?" asked Fireflight, his cerulean optics wide and anxious as he gazed up at the stock-still form of his bizarrely behaving guardian, "What's wrong?"

The aerial commander continued to stare at the far end of the hallway, shocked by both the familiar sight and the familiar tugging at his spark.

"Who's that, Silver?"

The sound of Fireflight's curious voice snapped the older mech out of his reverie and made him jump into action. Without a second thought, Silverbolt scooped his young charge into his arms and dashed down the hallway.

"Silver?! What's wrong?!" demanded Fireflight in a frightened voice. "Silver?!"

The aerial commander quickly turned a corner, heading back towards the ship as fast as his powerful legs could take him. He had to let Optimus know as soon as possible. They were _**not**_ supposed to be here. Optimus had specifically asked the base's personnel if they were here, and the communications specialist had assured them that no one else was scheduled to arrive besides the crew of _Artemis I_.

"Optimus," said Silverbolt into his com-link, "We got a problem."

* * *

Yes, I have added another youngling, which I have been planning to do for quite some time now. I have mentioned Fireflight a few other times in my stories & how very young he is, but what sets him apart from Bumblebee is that he was created before the destruction of the Youth Sectors. Nevertheless, the Autobots love & protect him just as fiercely as they do Bumblebee. And yes, Fireflight is a canon character from the G1 series. Well, And I'm terribly sorry about the long delay on the update, I just had my fourth and final surgery last week, so I'm done with surgeries for now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter & the slightly new perspective I tried to bring to it. Thanks for reading!!

Question - Do you like Fireflight or not? Should I keep him or remove him? Any suggestions?

P.S. - I am also going to be introducing quite a few characters who people have been asking to see for a long time now. I dropped a few hints throughout the chapter alluding to them. Can anyone guess who they are? Or does anyone have any suggestions?


	6. Chapter VI : Discovery

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers or any of the characters, Hasbro & Paramount Pictures does.

I would like to give an extra-big thanks to everyone who was kind enough to draw pictures of Bumblebee for me. Or you could just go to my profile where I have links for all of the art pieces people have done for me. And I will be referencing Litahatchee's wonderful idea of carrying from her story Night Fire, which I truly hope I do justice in this story. Thank you.　

Sparkling - Chapter VI - Discovery

* * *

The rugged brown hallways of the Vector Sigma Autobot Military Base was filled with the humming of machines and the sound of explosions from the outside firing range. Small, compact corridors made up most of the base, designed specially for the defensive purpose of keeping Decepticons out. However, this mattered little to a particular Autobot who was determined to get out of the base without being apprehended by his pursuers at that very moment.

"Yes, I saw them," snapped Silverbolt uncharacteristically into his com-link at his commander, "Trust me, Prime, there is no way I would mistake that paintjob or frame."

_Did you see any others?_ asked Optimus in a frantic voice.

"Yes, I saw a dark blue figure just prior to the second sighting," said the Autobot aerial commander, cautiously glancing around the corner before proceeding to head down the next hallway, "The whole squadron must be here."

_I will increase the search for Bumblebee and inform the crew to be more discreet in their ventures so as not to attract unnecessary attention, _stated Optimus, his powerful voice sounding slightly haggard and flustered, _This is a rather…unexpected predicament._

"I must agree, sir," whispered Silverbolt, hurriedly ducking down behind a large crate when he saw a slim figure appear at the end of the hallway, "What would you have me do, Prime?"

_Do not worry about searching for Bumblebee, _ordered Optimus, his calm voice regaining its usual confidant persona, _For now, all I want you to focus on is returning to the ship unseen and undiscovered with young Fireflight. _

Silverbolt gazed down at the youngling whom he held cradled in his arms, child-like faceplates scrunched up into a frightened frown. The little red flier had not made so much as a peep since the very beginning of his guardian's frantic sprint, instead opting to remain silent as Silverbolt attempted to get back undetected to the docked battle cruiser, which was proving to be quite the challenge.

The protective guardian was at least reassured by the fact that if he did happen to directly encounter one of his pursuers, they would _**never**_ purposely bring any harm unto his adoptive youngling. Such a worry had never even crossed his processor. However, it was the possibility of his pursuers being tapped by Decepticons if they were ever captured that would truly put Fireflight or Bumblebee into harm's way. And that was the reason why the mechs of _Artemis I _had not allowed these fellow Autobots to even know about the existence of the younglings.

"Silver?"

The Autobot aerial commander was knocked out of his thoughts by the frightened voice of his youngling. He tightened his hold on the young red mech, placing a gentle kiss upon his forehead before peering out to look down the hallway. It appeared to be empty at the moment and from what he could tell from the blueprints he had downloaded from Red Alert earlier, it seemed that he was not too far from the connecting hangars of the Autobot base and _Artemis I_.

"I need you to stay real quiet for me, okay, little one?" whispered Silverbolt.

Fireflight nodded his head, squirming a little bit to get into a more comfortable position in his guardian's arms. Once the youngling was satisfied, he gave the older mech a small smile.

"That's my lil' mech."

With a cautious glance both ways, Silverbolt emerged from his position behind the crate and proceeded to make his way towards the connecting ship. He made it down three hallways and was just one corridor over from entering the hallway that connected Vector Sigma to the battle cruiser when the aerial commander heard a very loud and very familiar yell from all the way down a far passageway.

"Silverbolt!!"

The towering red and white Autobot frantically looked around, well aware of the fact that he was caught and there was no escaping his pursuer now. It would look far too suspicious if he were to run away. So, he did the first thing that came into his processor and smacked the control panel on the doorway that he stood beside and promptly threw Fireflight into the unidentified room.

He heard his youngling let out a startled yelp before hitting the panel yet again and shutting the doorway. It was with a nervous chuckle and wide grin that Silverbolt turned around, his dark blue optics immediately locking on the slim figure that was very rapidly approaching him. Silverbolt felt his spark blaze with a ferocious longing and it took all of his willpower not to race down the hallway and sweep that familiar deep purple and rose red form into his arms.

"Hello, Airazor."

* * *

Fireflight yelped in surprise when he was suddenly thrown from the warm safety of his guardian's protective arms and into a dimly lit room that was full of old equipment and crates that were stacked ceiling-high. With a huff of disgust, the youngling folded his arms and glared at the doorway as it slammed shut behind him.

_How dare he!! _thought Fireflight, puffs of irritated air coming out his vents when he heard his guardian's voice talking outside, _Throwing me around like that! Humph!! _

The young flier pouted, both agitated by being thrown into a strange room and by the fact that he could not quite make out what his guardian was saying to whoever it was he had encountered. Overall, Fireflight was not a happy youngling.

"Who's he talking to?" mused Fireflight.

He may not be able to understand what they were saying, but Fireflight could hear the sounds of their voices. And he did not recognize the sound of this new mech's voice at all. It was certainly someone he had never met before, because the voice held a very strange lilting tone to it that was very unique and unforgettable. Fireflight was fairly sure that this was a voice he would not have forgotten.

"Hmmm, maybe if I could— "

The youngling was suddenly cut off by the sound of a loud crash in the back of the room. Fireflight jumped at the unexpected sound, taken aback by it. After a few moments of silence, the young red flier slowly started to inch his way toward the far left side of the storage room that was filled with large crates and assorted equipment. Fireflight was not exactly sure what to do, but it was very clear that he was on his own in this new situation. If the sounds coming from outside the door were any indication, then his guardian had his hands full at the moment.

"Ouch!"

Fireflight barely made it to where he had heard the crash take place before he was sprawled out atop two of the smaller crates along the wall. With a shake of his head and a curse at his infinite clumsiness, Fireflight glanced done at the ground to see what he had managed to trip head-over-heels on this time. What he saw shocked him, to say the least.

"Bee!?"

The young red flier gazed down at the twittering sparkling, his optics surprised by the sight that they were transferring back to his processor. Of all the places for the yellow sparkling to end up, he just happened to be in the exact same storage room that Fireflight had been so kindly tossed into by his guardian. And it was a storage room that was not on board _Artemis I _at that. Coincidence?

Fireflight thought not.

"Bee!" hissed Fireflight, quickly regaining his composure and moving down to pick up the clicking sparkling, "What're you doing all the way out here?"

The sparkling continued to click rapidly, his little arms flailing and pointing in a number of directions as his fellow youngling scooped him up. Fireflight nodded, barely able to keep up with the yellow mech's explanations. So Bumblebee had heard a strange noise in the ventilation system of his room and had decided to investigate it. Well, that explained a lot.

"You shouldn't follow strange noises, Bee," scolded Fireflight whilst sitting down on a nearby crate as the sparkling continued on with his story, "What if it had been some-thing really bad, like a Decepticon?"

Bumblebee clicked even more rapidly in an attempt to justify his actions, not at all happy to have his reasoning questioned by his only fellow youngling.

"That doesn't matter, Bee," sighed Fireflight, internally wondering if he was this stubborn as a sparkling, "You could have been seriously hurt and no one would've known where you were."

The yellow sparkling twittered loudly, smacking Fireflight's chassis a few times to get his point across and show the older mech his displeasure.

"Jealous?!" gaped Fireflight, "I'm not jealous!"

Bumblebee released a long series of buzzes, pointing and poking at various parts of the older youngling's faceplates.

"And I'm not clumsy," sniffed the red flier in indignation, "Things just happen to get in my way."

With another series of twitters and buzzes, Bumblebee explained how he followed the strange intruder and ended up in the storage room. Of course, much of this was done with the occasional cuss thrown in every now and then.

"Primus, your manners are as bad as 'Hide's," stated Fireflight, shaking his head at the sparkling's tendency to cuss and swear every time something in his story did not go his way, "Maybe Ratchet is right and you should…"

Fireflight was suddenly cut off when another loud crash came from the other side of the room from where he had found Bumblebee. Both youngling and sparkling gazed at the overturned crates with wide optics, not sure what to make of it or what they should do since neither one was too eager to investigate. The young flier shifted the sparkling in his arms, leaning forward to get a better look into the darkness.

"You said you were following something, right Bee?"

"Uh huh."

"Did it happen to come into this room?"

"Uh huh."

Silence stretched between the two young mechs.

"Uh oh."

No sooner had those words left Fireflight's voice capacitor before a set of bright red optics could be seen glowing in the ominous darkness. A quiet gasp left the red flier's mouthplates and he quickly backpedaled away from the threat, a frightened Bumblebee clutched tightly in his arms. The youngling was barely able to process the need to yell for help before he was ruthlessly tackled into the crates behind him.

The youngling threw the tiny yellow mech off to the side, taking most of the hard impact himself. Fireflight gasped in pain when his head collided with the sharp edge of a crate, his optical vision blurring briefly before he felt a set of razor-sharp teeth sink deep into his throat plating. A jolt of white-pain shot through his entire frame, everything a hot red that seemed to burn within and throughout his very system. The young flier's hands immediately attempted to grab at the being atop him, but Fireflight's efforts were swiftly thwarted when equally sharp claws slammed down into his forearms, effectively pinning them into the ground.

"AHHHHHH!!!!"

Bumblebee screamed loudly in terror, his optics widened with horror from where he had been thrown off to the side. A massive dark red and yellow form pinned his fellow youngling to the ground, its large mouth of gaping teeth tearing at Fireflight's throat with a viciousness that the sparkling had never before witnessed. Bumblebee could hear the harsh, gurgling sound of his friend's desperate gasps of agony, the massive form atop the young red flier effectively preventing him from calling for help. So, Bumblebee decided to scream for help in Fireflight's place.

"Silver!! Help!! Silver!!!!"

A pool of bright blue energon had begun to surround the writhing youngling, his much smaller frame completely trapped beneath that of his attacker. Fireflight could very faintly hear the sound of screams coming from somewhere, but he could not quite make out the direction nor the source. Every part of his frame screamed in pain, especially his throat, arms, and legs. It almost felt like knives or claws had been slammed through them and that was why he could not move no matter how hard he tried. And the tearing that he felt in his throat was absolutely unbearable.

"Help!! Somebody!! Please!! Help!!"

Bumblebee continued to scream and yell as loud as he could, watching in horror as the giant feline-mech tore even deeper into his friend's throat. Energon ran out of the red mech's secondary lines, both of which were located in the forearms and lower legs of an aerial bot. Fireflight's attacker had obviously known this and had immediately driven his claws into those strategic locations. Bumblebee held Rufus tightly, his optics bright with terror yet determined as they narrowed into angry slits.

No one hurt Fireflight and got away with it!!

With a twitter of rage, Bumblebee threw Rufus to the side and latched onto the Decepticon's lower left leg. And it was with a growl of utter aggression that the little mech jammed his tiny fingers deep between the feline-mech's shin plating, tearing at the wires that made up the 'Con's mobility system. The Decepticon roared in pain, doing exactly what Bumblebee wanted by releasing Fireflight's throat from his ruthless jaws.

BANG!!

One of the nearby crates overturned as the Decepticon's tail sliced it clean it half, a loud crash echoing throughout the room as the sparkling continued to jam his fingers deeper into Fireflight's attacker. However, it was the sudden appearance of a second attacker that finally drove the 'Con's attention completely away from the youngling pinned beneath him.

Bumblebee looked up in surprise when he heard a loud hiss from above him, his optics watching in disbelief as another, smaller feline figure pounced upon the 'Con who was using Fireflight as a chew-toy. The sparkling was soon flung off to the side, hitting a crate as the 'Con flailed against the new attacker.

However, it was not long before the door to the storage room swooshed open and the familiar voice of the Autobot aerial commander could be heard in the chaotic mess of energon and snarls. Bumblebee could hear Silverbolt gasp in horror, the pounding in his cranial unit not bad enough to prevent the sparkling from sensing the sudden tension and rising fury that was permeating into the room.

"Fireflight!!!!"

The aerial commander launched himself into the room and towards the mech who was responsible for the horrifying condition of his youngling. A deep purple and rose red figure appeared right behind Silverbolt, faceplates forming into an expression of complete and utter shock. The Decepticon feline snarled threateningly before diving off to the side, just barely evading the sharp edge of Silverbolt's energon blade. With another snarl and hiss, the feline-mech dove between two crates and disappeared into the previously unseen vent on the ceiling.

Silverbolt roared in rage, shoving his left arm into the vent and firing numerous rounds into the hole as he screamed loudly in a combination of fury and sorrow. If it was not for the presence of the other Autobot and her grabbing arms, the aerial commander would have likely blown the entire ceiling down in his frenzied grief.

"Silver!! Stop this!!" yelled the femme, roughly grabbing him from behind and turning him around to face her, "There are much more important matters to attend to at this moment! Control yourself!!"

The towering Autobot gazed down at his sparkmate with hazed optics, slowly coming out of his frenzy as Airazor coaxed him back to himself. And it was after a few astroseconds when his optics finally strayed over to the catalyst of his furious outrage.

"Fireflight?!"

Silverbolt darted over to his adopted youngling, blue optics wide as he took in the extensive damage that had been dealt to the red flier's frame. The aerial commander slowly bent down and groaned in horror, rapidly becoming physically ill at the horrific sight of his darling Fireflight. Thankfully, his sparkmate was there once again to knock him out of his stupor and quickly evaluated the situation, taking charge whilst her usually calm-minded partner attempted to regain his composure.

"We need a medic in storage room 14B," ordered Airazor into her com-link, her normally stoic voice strained as both Silverbolt and her attempted to staunch the flow of energon from Fireflight's wounds, "Code 5 situation."

Silverbolt allowed his sparkmate to handle the distress call, his attention wholly focused on the prone form and pain-filled optics that were staring up at him.

"Everything's going to be alright, Fire," said the older mech, unsubspacing a piece of medical scrap metal and pressing it onto the youngling's weeping throat, "Ratchet will be here in the next breem and he'll patch you right up."

"We have a Code 24 situation," stated Airazor, her voice firm as she continued to speak into the com-link, "Confirmed Decepticon infiltration: designation Razorclaw."

Silverbolt felt his spark tighten and his optics haze red when he heard his spark-mate speak the name of Fireflight's attacker.

Razorclaw.

The leader of the predacons.

Never before had Silverbolt felt such an intense hatred towards another being in his entire life. Anger and aggression were not second nature to the aerial commander, unlike some of his rowdier comrades. However, at that moment in time, Silverbolt truly desired to rip out the spark of every Decepticon he could get his hands on. And he was sure that Ironhide or the twins would only be all too happy to join him.

"Injured Autobot is…"

Airazor turned to her sparkmate, trailing off into the com-link after she realized that she did not know anything about the attack victim.

"His name's Fireflight," breathed Silverbolt, not once losing optic contact with his youngling, "That should be enough to get Ratchet and the others here as fast as possible."

Gazing at her sparkmate with questioning optics, Airazor nevertheless did not lose her composure and continued into the com-link, "Injured Autobot is Fireflight. Condition is critical and rapidly deteriorating."

"Just open your vents, Fire," coached Silverbolt, running a hand across the young flier's front chassis vents in an attempt to synchronize their breathing, "Open them and breathe in time with me, okay?"

The youngling attempted to nod his head, but instead only ended up hiccupping a large amount of energon, the main fuel lines that led from his throat and down into his fuel tanks obviously severed by the feline-mech's jaws. However, it was the terrified cerulean optics that truly wrenched at Silverbolt's aching spark. He had never expected to see _**his**_ youngling in such a tank-churning and life-threatening situation. And the fact that he was unable to take Fireflight's pain away was swiftly tearing the powerful aerial commander apart inside.

"Silver?"

The aerial commander glanced over to his sparkmate, his optics widening even further when he saw whom she was inclining her head towards. His spark clenched painfully at the thought that not only had Airazor seen Fireflight, but Bumblebee as well. The little yellow sparkling was curled into a little ball beside a nearby crate, a steady stream of energon tears running down his faceplates. However, it was the orangish-red creature that was snuggling up beside the sparkling that caught his attention.

"A sparkling?!" demanded Airazor.

"A cybercat?" questioned Silverbolt.

Both locked optics for a few intense moments, one demanding answers whilst the other was attempting to hide those very same answers. And it was not long before a look of realization graced Airazor's feminine features, her optics turning toward Fireflight and widening as understanding dawned on her. After all, it was not that hard to figure out if one simply looked at the injured flier's frame.

No adult flier was _**that**_ small, especially with a fourth-frame.

Airazor's maternal programming automatically kicked in, her spark reaching out to the two younglings before her. The yellow mech was obviously still in his first-frame, making him a mere sparkling. The injured red flier seemed too small to have received his third frame yet, but it was also highly possible that the frame-maker had simply not given the youngling any upgrades or added advancements. Supplies were low and Airazor doubted that the Autobots would be willing to part with the critically needed frame materials until the younglings were absolutely ready to receive them.

"Silver," said Airazor in a shaky voice, "I do not know whether to believe what I am seeing or not." The femme breathed loudly through her vents, suddenly feeling her infamous stoicism fade away. "Are they really— "

The femme never got to finish her sentence before three large forms barreled into the room and began shouting in almost every direction. Ratchet immediately went to the injured youngling, barking out orders at the others present in the room. Airazor was the one most often spoken to due to the fact that she at least had rudimentary medical training and was more level-headed than the others. Optimus immediately went over to Silverbolt, asking the aerial commander what had happened. Ironhide merely cussed loudly and threatened death upon the 'Con who had harmed the youngling.

"'Hide?"

All optics but Ratchet's turned towards the small voice on the other side of the room, suddenly realizing that there was in fact another youngling present. And this one was even younger and smaller than the one already injured and dying.

"Bumblebee!!"

Ironhide raced over and scooped up his sparkling, cradling the little mech close as Ratchet shouted orders and demanded that every medic on base converge to his location. He ordered First Aid to prepare the medical bay for an incoming critical condition patient and requested for at least ten mechs to report immediately to Hoist to donate energon for Fireflight's emergency transfusions. They could hear Wheeljack's frantic voice over the com-link, demanding to know the extent of Fireflight's injuries and how many converters and tube replacements he would have to prepare for surgery.

Ironhide was off to the side, staring down at the cybercat that was running around and between his feet whilst making loud mewling sounds at Bumblebee. The other mechs had completely overlooked the orangish-red creature in the chaos and were continuing to as two other medics, Perceptor and Fixit, entered the storage room. Both medics pushed Optimus, Silverbolt, and Airazor aside, immediately going to work on safely moving the youngling into a position where they could transport him to surgery.

The other Autobots watched as Fireflight was secured and moved out of the room by the medics and a newly arrived Inferno. Both chaos and the sounds of a loudly crying sparkling had kept their attention firmly fixed upon the crisis at hand; but as that crisis was taken from the room, realization and shock soon descended upon the four remaining Autobots.

"Airazor," rumbled Optimus Prime's deep baritone, placing his hand upon her much smaller shoulder as her sparkmate raced out of the room to follow the youngling, "We must move to a more discreet location, preferably onboard _Artemis I_."

The femme nodded her head mutely, well aware that such a location would more than likely be within shouting distance of the ship's medical bay.

"We have much to discuss," stated the Autobot commander.

"Yes, Prime," said Airazor, "I believe we do."

* * *

Life has been extremely hectic lately, so chapters may be slightly slow in coming. But you can rest assured that I never plan to abandon any of my stories. I'm just not the fastest writer on the planet, at all. And yes, I have finally introduced a femme into my stories, after all of the dozens of requests I have received about them. This chapter was not the easiest to write & I still have reservations about it & how I portrayed the characters, especially Airazor. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, just let me know. However, most questions that people are probably going to have will be cleared up in the next chapter. Thanks for reading!!

P.S. - In response to all of the requests I have received & my own never-ending imagination, I _**will**_ be writing a story just like Little Brother in regards to the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie. My mind will probably be going haywire with ideas after I see anyways.


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